Entangled
by SilverLily aka Blood Moon
Summary: Tis a frightening thing, to depend so heavily on another person for life. Watanuki has no choice but to admit his desperate need for Doumeki's help as he would die without it. If only the rest of society could understand. AU Dou/Wata
1. Chapter 1

_The __Beginning__ – __Himawari's __Story_

The girl pressed her hand against the warmed metal of the vehicle's bumper. The heat against her skin from the summer sunshine bit into her skin, so sharp and bright she thought for a moment she could have been touching ice instead of hot metal. She turned back to her mother and smiled indulgently. It was her first day at her new school and her mother had wanted to drop her off personally and wish her daughter good luck.

Himawari waved goodbye to her parent and made her way into Private Cross High School. She was rather excited to start. It was a new place, filled with new faces and opportunities. Himawari's father had been reassigned for work to Kyoto, so the company had paid for the Kunogi family to move to a modestly small but lavishly decorated home that was only a few blocks away from her school. While Himawari would miss all of her friends in Tokyo she was ecstatic to live in Kyoto. The beautiful city, being placed in a valley that was surrounded by mountains and rich in cultural history, was like a dream come true.

All of the students were wearing their summer uniforms. Himawari adjusted her shirt slightly as the strap of her her bag pulled at her sleeve while she walked up the stairs to the front door. Few of the students paid her much mind as she made her way through. She was starting roughly a month into the school year so she expected a few curious glances as she checked her schedule but she had not received any yet. A sea of black uniforms swept passed her while she looked at her new schedule sheet. She wondered when she would start getting questions about being new.

Her first class was English. Himawari hoped that her studies were up to the level that her new classes would be at. Private Cross High was a well renowned school in Kyoto and she very much wanted to do the best she could. She looked up and followed the room numbers until she reached room 11-7b.

She walked into the doorway and headed up to the instructor's desk. She handed her sheet over for review. Before she could say anything the woman snatched the paper away and looked up to her. "Oh!" The small woman exclaimed. "Kunogi-chan!" She exclaimed. "You're the new student. I am Tsuyuri-sensei. Please take a seat over there," she pointed a long, thin hand towards a currently empty desk near the back of the room. "I'll have you introduce yourself as soon as class starts."

Himawari bowed slightly. "Thank you, sensei." She took her schedule back and trotted over to her desk and sat down. She settled herself in her seat and shoved her extra supplies under her desk. She had yet to be assigned a locker yet so she was stuck carrying everything with her.

Students trickled into the room in the few minutes that remained before class started. Himawari swept her gaze over her new peers and wondered who they were and which ones she would be friends with soon.

Two students walked in with each other a minute before the bell rang. At first Himawari thought they had caught her attention because one of the boys was so very tall. She wouldn't doubt that he was the tallest person on campus – he easily towered above everyone at six and a half feet at least. The boy next to him was a few inches shorter and wore glasses. Himawari's eyes then took in the differences in their posture and stature and she was starting to think that perhaps _this_ was why they had suddenly caught her interest - they looked like they should have been at opposite ends of the social spectrum.

The taller boy was certainly very handsome, but the expression on his face could not have looked more bored if he tried. His shoulders were broad and his back was ramrod straight. His skin was lightly tanned and his hair was short and black.

The other boy, the slightly shorter one, was as tall and gangly as his companion was muscular and composed. His hair looked thin and wispy and it tickled a little at his dark blue eyes. For a moment Himawari had to tilt her head to the side and stare at the eyes again to confirm if it was a trick of the light that made his right eye look a little yellow instead of blue.

To give him a label that was apt was, maddeningly, nothing more than 'nerd', even though the boy really was _prettier_ than what nerds were supposed to look like. His arms clutched his books to his chest and his posture was a little hunched, like he was huddling into himself without realizing it. He looked grumpy.

Himawari was then even more curious as she noticed that the taller boy was resting one of his hands on the small of his companion's back as he led them towards their desks in the middle of the room. It seemed like a very intimate gesture. She averted her gaze quickly when one of them looked towards her and took their seats.

The bell rang and Tsuyuri-sensei happily greeted everyone with the new day.

. . . . . . . . . .

"Kunogi-chan!"

Himawari looked behind her as the sound of a girl's voice drifted her way through the crowd of students. She did not recognize the person that was walking up to her.

The girl's black hair was tied up in a pony tail that bounced and swayed as she jogged. "Kunogi-chan! You're new, right? I'm in your chemistry class. Oosako Itsuko." The girl bowed politely.

Himawari smiled. "It's nice to meet you! Please, call me by my given name, Himawari."

The girl, Itsuko, smiled. "All right, Himawari-chan. Would you like to eat lunch with us today?"

Himawari smiled and felt her chest swell with elation. A lunch invitation on her first day! She wouldn't have to sit alone. "I'd love to!" She tightened her hold on her wrapped lunch box and looked around in question. "Where do you normally eat?"

"Follow me!" Itsuko exclaimed. She turned and started to walk towards one of the exit doors to outside. "We usually like to eat at the lunch tables that are outside when the weather is nice. On cold or rainy days we eat in the study hall room."

As soon as they exited the building there was a sizable group of people that started waving at Itsuko. The girl's face brightened with a smile. She waved back. "That's where we're going!" She turned back to Himawari. "There's so many people to introduce you to!"

Himawari looked around at the rest of the students outside as she followed her peer to the table filled with new faces. People in identical black uniforms milled about with little aim at any particular destination.

Her eyes moved again and widened slightly as she caught sight of the two male students from that morning. They were sitting underneath of a tree and eating their lunches. They were a bit far from her and she couldn't see very much, like what might be packed in their lunch boxes or hear what they might be saying to each other. They probably weren't talking at all as the taller boy looked too busy chewing his food to open his mouth.

"What are you looking at, Himawari-chan?" Itsuko asked.

"Who are those two, Oosako-chan?" Himawari nodded her head in the direction of the unknown students.

"Oh, so you've noticed them," Itsuko replied, her voice flat. "Don't pay any attention to them, Himawari-chan. Rumor has it that they're dating. They're very weird."

"Dating?" Kunogi asked with surprise. She'd never met anyone before that was actually homosexual, though she wasn't opposed to the idea. "What's wrong with that?"

"It's not just _that,_" Itsuko stressed. "It's Watanuki, mostly. Everyone calls him a bit of a freak, and once you're here long enough you'll see exactly what they mean. He spazzes out at the strangest times, like in the middle of class or getting a drink of water from the fountain. Also, he's always hanging around Doumeki-kun! Like he can't live without him. You never see one without the other!"

Perhaps that was a bit strange, if it was an unhealthy attachment, but Himawari kept any reservations she may have had to herself. She didn't want to judge those two before speaking with them herself. She did wonder what Itsuko meant when she said that Watanuki would 'spaz out.'

"Which is which?" Himawari asked.

"Doumeki-kun is the taller one. He's the star performer on the archery team. They haven't lost at the nationals since he joined. The shorter one is Watanuki. But stop thinking about that!" Itsuko grabbed her hand and led her up to the table where her friends were at. "You have to meet everyone here!" Each person was introduced with smiles and nods but the names glazed over Himawari's memory without actually sticking. She did not know why she was so curious about those two boys, but she felt already that perhaps they were being harshly judged. She wanted to know more.

She bowed to the expectant faces before her. "It's lovely to meet all of you. Thank you for inviting me to lunch!" In the meantime, she'd make as many friends as she could before ostracizing herself.

. . . . . . . . .

_The __Beginning__ – __Doumeki's __Story_

Doumeki stopped to stare in confusion at the spectacle before him. A young man was wriggling around on the sidewalk a few paces ahead of him like a worm. He wondered what would cause a person to act in such a way. Were there ants in his pants? A seizure, maybe?

Hmm... he squinted his eyes and turned his head to the side a little as he scrutinized the scene. No, it didn't look like a seizure. The boy was clearly yelling obscenities. He didn't think anyone seizing could speak quite that coherently. Or that _loudly_ either. This had to be the noisiest person he'd ever seen.

The boy's body contorted in ways Doumeki didn't realize bones and muscles could. Really, it was quite a feet. The boy could join a circus with moves like that.

The boy started coughing and wheezing loudly. Doumeki walked a little closer as the choking and gurgling noises continued and the boy kept writhing. Really, what was wrong with him? Perhaps he'd had an allergic reaction to something? Was his throat closing up from a bee sting? Or a previously unknown peanut allergy?

A little closer still and Doumeki still couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening to the kid. The coughing was sounding worse, but it was happening less often. The boy's face was starting to turn a little blue. A closer inspection still, and Doumeki had to check again to make sure he'd seen it right.

Yes, indeed he had. There were wisps and shadows flickering over this boy's form. Doumeki looked up at the sky overhead and saw no clouds to block the sun. It wasn't even windy that day. He looked down again and still those dark, shadowing thing were there. Doumeki felt his confusion grow when suddenly one of the boy's arms jerked around as though it were being tugged by an invisible force.

When his body was suddenly lifted up entirely and there was a good six inches between the bottom of the young man's feet and the concrete sidewalk, Doumeki knew. It was the first time he'd felt fear in quite a while. Doumeki knew of spirits. He knew of his grandfather's work as an exorcist, he knew about holy things and hungry spirits and the paper wards his grandfather created and sold at the shrine. Doumeki, however, _didn't_ know if he had the same powers his grandfather did, and he didn't know if he'd be able to exorcise this seemingly powerful spirit.

He forced his feet to rush to the boy that was dangling in the air, his lips blue and his face ashen in color. "Oi!" Doumeki yelled to him. He reached out and went to grab the arm that was dangling by the dying boy's side. The moment his hand made contact with him the shadows vanished instantly and the boy fell to the ground in a heap, coughing and wheezing and chest heaving with breath.

Doumeki was a little surprised that a touch was all that was needed. He looked down at the young man as he recovered. He felt like he knew this person. He had heard his name somewhere and knew, just from the uniform alone, that they went to the same school. Why couldn't he remember his name? Doumeki merely shrugged to himself and settled with a generic: "Oi."

The dark blue eyes of the boy snapped up to look at him. His eyes were bloodshot and his neck was red and bruised. A look of annoyance crossed his face, as though his personal space had just been violated by Doumeki and _not_ a hungry spirit out to eat him. "_What?_" The boy snapped.

"You okay?" Doumeki asked, his voice neutral.

The boy's shoulders shuddered and he hugged his arms to his chest. "What do you care? Don't stick your nose in other peoples' business."

Doumeki sighed. "Idiot."

"Don't call me an idiot!" He bounced up to his feet and glared. "The name's Watanuki. _Watanuki._ See? Easy, even for a cave-man like you!" The boy – Watanuki – snatched up his school briefcase swiftly and started to stomp his way angrily down the street. It was interesting to see how quickly he had recovered.

Doumeki started walking down the same path behind him. After a couple of blocks Watanuki looked behind himself with a scowl. "Don't stalk me! I can find my own way home!"

Doumeki stuck a finger in his ear as the decibel levels of Watanuki's yell increased with each word. "I'm not stalking you. I'm going this way, too."

"Yeah, right! I take this way home every day and I never see you! Where the hell do you live, anyway?"

Doumeki pointed in the general direction of his home. "I live at the local temple. I'm normally at archery practice, but the coach was sick today. I don't normally go home until much later."

Watanuki sniffed and lifted his nose a little, but seemed to accept the story. "Right, yeah, big archery guy. Whatever. Don't follow me home next time, jerk." He turned around again and kept walking. Doumeki watched him until he lost sight of the boy as he walked around a corner and down another street.

Whatever was hunting that boy was going to come back. Doumeki wondered if Watanuki was going to live through 'next time.'


	2. Chapter 2

The following morning Doumeki had the strangest urge to wake up far earlier than normal. He finished his chores around his family's temple and ate his breakfast and managed to head to school nearly an hour before he needed to. He wasn't sure _why_ he felt the urge to do so, but he never doubted himself when his instincts bade him to do something. His grandfather often told him that a man's gut was smarter than his brain sometimes, and when he felt his instincts telling him to do something he should do it without question.

So, Doumeki took a seat near the entrance of the school by a tree and pulled a book from his briefcase for some light reading. Every so often his tawny gold eyes would flicker up and gaze at the students as they slowly started to make their way in to school that day.

After about half an hour Doumeki's patience paid in full. He lifted his gaze from his book after he finished another paragraph and was just in time to see the boy from the previous night running with all of his strength for the school grounds. There were small beads of sweat rolling down the boy's temples and his face was flushed, but otherwise he was mostly composed once he came to a full stop just inside the gates.

Doumeki closed his book and put it away. His suspicion had indeed been correct then when he guessed why he'd never noticed Watanuki before the previous day. Doumeki showed up for school just before he could be considered late while it appeared that Watanuki came very early every day, clearly harassed by spirits each time he walked to and from school.

Surely he was bothered at home as well? Not everyone could live on purified grounds like Doumeki. Did he buy spirits wards frequently? How long did they last him if he was pestered this often? Doumeki was sincerely curious how his estranged peer had managed to live so long with such danger. What did the boy's parents make of their son's problem? Had they sought any help yet for him?

Doumeki walked up to Watanuki in what appeared to be bored detachment. His face, as always, was blank and neutral. "Oi."

Watanuki visibly tensed and stood upright, his fists clenched tightly. "My name is not '_Oi!'" _He snapped. "What do you want? Still stalking me?"

Doumeki merely wanted to ask him if he was all right and lighten the mood. He settled with a rather snarky, "Practicing for the track team? Or do you just like to get all sweaty in the mornings?"

Watanuki's face flushed red. Doumeki found the fiery reaction amusing. "Y-you!" The boy snarled. "You big jerk! _Argh!_ Why do people even like you? Your face is so stupid looking! You stupid faced, big, uncivilized cretin!" Watanuki's arms gestured animatedly around his own face, as if trying without words to emphasize how ugly Doumeki's was.

Doumeki raised one eyebrow and smirked slightly.

Watanuki stomped passed him to the school's door. "Don't you dare laugh at me!"

Doumeki turned and followed him. "I didn't laugh." He certainly felt like it though.

"With your dumb face unable to move more than an inch, you may as well have!"

. . . . . . . . . .

Doumeki watched as Watanuki headed straight for the back of every class they had together. He watched as Watanuki ate alone during lunch by a half dead sakura tree. He watched as Watanuki scribbled his homework down during study all – also alone. He watched as often as he could that day of Watanuki and his lonely state of existence.

During fifth period two boys from the student council started to harass him for a supposed coughing fit he'd had during their English test a week ago. Doumeki felt the dull ache of anger as the boys demanded to know why Watanuki was such a freak while Watanuki desperately tried to both please them by apologizing and to slip away from their harsh questioning quickly. His shoulders were hunched in and his large blue eyes said loudly and clearly that he wished he could melt into the floor and never be seen again.

The moment they released the boy from their clutches and allowed him to run away down the hall Doumeki placed a heavy hand on one shoulder of each of them and squeezed tightly. When they looked up at him there was a hint of fear in their eyes as they took in his stony expression.

"Leave him alone," was all he said.

Each boy winced at the pain in their shoulders. Doumeki had a quiet reputation, but everyone in school knew he was a star athlete in archery and a 5 dan black belt in judo. Even though he was usually gentle and mild mannered, no one wanted to get him angry.

He received hasty nods of agreement. When he let them go they bolted down the hall in the opposite direction that Watanuki had gone.

For a moment Doumeki wondered what was possessing him to suddenly help Watanuki. The boy certainly didn't like him. Doumeki believed it had something to do with the spirits that haunted him. His grandfather Haruka had been an exorcist for years already, so Doumeki was somewhat familiar with the spirit world. He'd never met anyone so closely linked to it and he was very, very curious about it all.

Doumeki made sure he was one of the first students to leave that day so that he could wait by the doors and watch for when Watanuki made his exit. The boy moved rather quickly as Doumeki had come to learn, and walked out of the school's doors merely a minute after Doumeki had. The crowd of students parted before him like water as they usually did as he walked quickly to catch up to the retreating Watanuki. Being as tall and broad-shouldered as he was people usually took notice of him and moved before he even had a chance to walk around.

Doumeki kept a distance between them of about half a block, so as not to draw the boy's attention. Three blocks away from the school and they were the only people left walking down the sidewalk. Watanuki's head kept swiveling back and forth, like he was on the watch for something dreadful. Doumeki narrowed his eyes when Watanuki's shoulders dropped significantly and his pace quickened even more.

It was after they walked the distance of another city block that Watanuki coughed. He coughed just once, but hard and painful sounding. His chest jerked forward and he doubled over, his body vibrating with the force of the choking. He moved quickly then, as though he were wriggling out of an itchy sweater, then quickened his pace to a fast jog. Doumeki kept pace.

After another city block Watanuki's body slammed into the ground hard. There was a sharp cry of pain from him as he was pushed along the unforgiving cement and into the chain link fence. Doumeki ran quickly to catch up the rest of the distance.

Watanuki was choking again, but this time he clearly could not even draw in enough air to cough out. His mouth was open wide and not a breath of air escaped him. Doumeki rushed to his side and once again grabbed the boy's arm.

The touch did seem to work again, for Watanuki suddenly started hacking and coughing violently, but he was at least starting to get breath. Doumeki kneeled beside Watanuki and waited for the fit to end. He watched as Watanuki's hands rubbed gently at his neck. Blood dribbled down to his fingers from the rough cuts on his cheek from where it had been grated against the sidewalk. Finally the coughing ended and Watanuki was merely wheezing, each breath a little stronger than the last.

"You okay?"

Watanuki's deep blue eyes looked up at him, hard and scrutinizing. He then seemed to remember himself and averted his eyes quickly, his features falling. "Fine. What are you doing here, anyway? Don't you have archery practice?"

Doumeki shrugged, his hand still on the boy's arm. "Coach is still sick today," he replied, which was not a lie. It was also very convenient. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

Watanuki stood up and jerked his arm away from Doumeki's grip. "How do make them go away like that, anyway?"

"I come from a family of exorcists."

Watanuki looked at him skeptically, one thin eyebrow raised delicately up. Doumeki mulled over the idea that Watanuki had delicate facial features. His hair was even a little girly, so fine and fly-away that he had stray wisps that would float up in a graceful curve. "Really, exorcists? Cross bearing, holy water using exorcists."

"Shinto exorcists," Doumeki corrected.

Watanuki frowned, but at least he was not protesting, which Doumeki found most agreeable. "Whatever. I live that way," Watanuki pointed to the left. The two crossed the street and walked in the direction that Watanuki had indicated. Doumeki saw an apartment building come in to view.

The atmosphere was quiet and, for Watanuki, tense, as they made their way up the stairs and to the third floor where Watanuki's apartment was located. The boy pulled a set of keys out of his pocket to unlock his door. They jingled faintly like tiny bells in his hand.

In the open hallway in front of his apartment Watanuki spun around and pinned Doumeki with a hearty glare that was quietly ignored. "I'm fine now. Go home."

Doumeki paused as he thought over the demand. "I'm hungry."

The boy spluttered in shock. "W-what! Hungry! Do I _look _like a personal chef? Go buy your own food! I can't afford to feed you!"

Doumeki thought the statement a little odd. He would have thought that Watanuki's parents would be the ones to purchase the groceries. After all, it was not as though Watanuki had an after school job. "Do you have any tea?"

"Tch!" Watanuki stomped, but he spun around and jammed his key into the lock on the door. He jerked it open and pounded into his home. "Don't track mud in!"

The apartment was tiny, smaller than Doumeki had ever expected it to be. It was one room that had the kitchen, living room and dining all in one space, and it was no bigger than a bedroom. Two smaller rooms were to the left. One was the bathroom and one the bedroom.

Watanuki didn't even have a couch. He had a low table that was on a large tatami mat, two pillows around the table to sit on, and the kitchen. There was no television or other large electronics. It looked like the only luxury that Watanuki had was a small radio that sat on a window sill in the kitchen. The place was immaculate and spotlessly clean.

Doumeki removed his shoes and closed the door behind him. He happened to glance at the door and noticed the small paper spirit ward that had been placed on it. He stared at it for a moment, part of him a little surprised, but another part of him was not shocked at all. His eyes wandered over the other walls and surfaces of the small apartment. The wards were everywhere. "These are my grandfather's wards."

"What?" Watanuki demanded from the kitchen. Doumeki knew he had been heard in the small space and seated himself at the table.

"I said, these are my grandfather's wards. He made them."

"I heard you the first time!" Watanuki groused. He set the teapot on the table along with two cups. Doumeki was also interested to see Watanuki carefully place three plates of cold onigiri on the table. "So you're from that temple, huh? They're the best wards I've been able to find. The ones from the other shrines usually fade away after a couple of days."

Doumeki raised an eyebrow. Wards were supposed to last for years, he was certain. "How long do these last?"

"Between three and six months, depending on my luck."

Doumeki carefully released his breath. Watanuki should have been dead by now, he knew. He sipped his tea. The taste was exquisite. As was the piece of onigiri he shoved in his mouth. He'd never tasted anything so good before. "You live alone here?"

Watanuki took a drink of tea. "My parents died in an accident when I was six."

"Oh."

"Anyway, you should go," Watanuki said. "I've got homework to do and-"

Doumeki dropped his tea cup when Watanuki doubled over in a coughing fit, blue eyes wide with shock. The liquid slipped across the table and dripped to the tatami mat below. Doumeki's hands gripped Watanuki's arms and squeezed, but the fit did not start to subside as before.

"H-how?" Watanuki managed to choke out.

The room came alive with the sound of hissing. Doumeki looked up and saw with a touch of dread that started to pool in his stomach, cold and tight, that the paper wards were burning away.

"Deamon," Watanuki rasped. His body convulsed, and he tumbled in to Doumeki's arms.

A shadow in the corner of his eye. Doumeki turned to look and saw a brief glimpse of something awful. He'd only ever seen the drawings his grandfather had made in his books, and even then it had been a bit frightening to behold. "A Hell Hound," he said.

Watanuki's head bobbed up and down as he coughed in agreement, for he could not speak.


	3. Chapter 3

Doumeki tore his eyes away from the incorporeal mist that hovered near the edges of the room to look intently at Watanuki's face as his features twisted with pain. The misty-foggy movement was about all that Doumeki could see of the Hell Hound as the deamon stalked the edges of the space, wanting to advance further but only able to choke Watanuki and not yet consume him fully.

"Dou...dou... me..." Watanuki gasped. His eyes were wide, his mouth open, but very little air could enter his lungs.

Doumeki felt helpless, and consequently quite frustrated at his helplessness. He had not yet learned the advanced arts of exorcism. He had no means to destroy this spirit and nothing on hand, other than the presence of his own spirit, to ward the malevolent creature away.

Having nothing left other than physical touch, Doumeki moved his hands to Watanuki's red and bruised neck.

Immediately the choking subsided and Watanuki's back and chest trembled with the effort of expanding with air. The boy pushed himself upright in Doumeki's embrace. He held tightly to the arms that led up to his neck but did not push them away. "The wards... I've..." He coughed again. "I just replaced them last week. I haven't had any burn up for a few years now."

"How are you still alive?" Doumeki asked.

The boy winced at the question. "It didn't used to be so bad. It's gotten a lot worse the past few weeks. I can't go anywhere now without getting harassed." His eyes flicked to the corner of the small room. "It's still here. Can you see it?"

Doumeki followed the gaze to the smoky substance floating a few inches above the floor. Every few blinks he would get a glimpse of the full creature, blood filled mouth with jaws so large the teeth pierced the creature's lips. Black tar coated fur and claws as long as railroad nails dug into the mats. "A little. It's mostly fog to me."

Watanuki's face was very pale. "It can't touch you. It's angry about that."

"How do I kill it?" Doumeki asked.

Watanuki shook his head. The skin of his neck moved smoothly under his peer's rough but gentle hands. "It wouldn't matter. There's more outside the windows. With the wards down the rest will spill in. The deamon is keeping the others at bay, wanting me all for itself."

More? Doumeki cursed in his head. He was frustrated as well that he could not see these supposed other spirits outside of the apartment's windows. He looked at Watanuki pointedly. "What now?" He raised an eyebrow, very clearly indicating that they couldn't sit that way forever.

"What are you asking me for, Mr. Exorcist! Don't you think if _I _knew I'd have done it already? Who'd want to touch you, anyway!"

Doumeki sighed. "Moron."

"Don't call me a moron! I -" Watanuki paused mid rant, his mouth open in surprise. He started blinking rapidly, his eyes watering with tears that spilled down his cheeks. "Ow, ow..!" The boy's hands rushed to his eyes and covered them, his lids closed tight. "Oh, _God!"_ He screamed. "_Oh, __God!_"

Panic did strange things to the body. Doumeki's heart pounded loudly in his chest. His muscles sang with adrenaline and he felt he needed to act so quickly that he was afraid his brain wouldn't tell his body to move fast enough. He removed one of his hands from around Watanuki's neck and pushed the boy's hands away to cover those closed blue eyes himself. The misty fog that had started to surround them dissipated with a hiss when Doumeki's hand touched it.

Watanuki screamed again. His shoulder jerked forward as though punched from behind. Blood spat forth from a new wound and covered Doumeki's school jacket.

_He's __going __to __die, _Doumeki thought. _He's __going __to __die __and __there's __nothing __I __can __do._ He was panicking. He managed to realize that he'd never panicked before in his life. It was surreal. In his frightened haste, Doumeki pushed Watanuki to the floor, covered the shorter male's body with his own, and pressed his lips against Watanuki's.

For the first few seconds it was awful. There was the taste of tears and blood, salt and tense lips and the sounds of Watanuki quietly sobbing beneath him. The next few seconds were calmer as Watanuki stilled and the pain the spirit had inflicted on him lessened. Doumeki slid a hand under the other male's head and lifted it up a little. He deepened the kiss and pressed his tongue lightly through Watanuki's lips.

Watanuki sighed into the kiss. The pain in his neck was vanishing quickly, as well as the feeling of someone pushing his eyes into the back of his skull.

Nearly a minute later Doumeki pulled away a little. Watanuki panted with exertion, his face flushed with heat and his hair mussed from the hand that had been buried in it. "What... how... the hell?"

"I'm sorry," Doumeki apologized. "It was the only thing I could think of."

"And how the hell did you even know that would _work?_" He shrieked.

"When I was in the fifth grade my grandmother became very ill. My grandfather would kiss her often and tell her that she needed the affection. When I asked him why he said these things, he said to me that an exorcist's kiss is a powerful thing. He said it would lessen grandmother's pain and protect her from the spirits that might try to cling to her illness. Without stronger wards and a truckload of purified salt, it was the only thing I could to do ward you."

Watanuki gaped at him.

Doumeki averted his eyes from the imploring blue ones and looked at the shorter boy's neck. It was still bruised black, blue and red. Streaks of blood dotted his skin and uniform like splatter paint. Doumeki pulled the boy's collar down and away from the marred flesh.

"Hey, what- _Oh!_"

Doumeki's tongue slid across the injured skin and sealed the wetness with kisses. In the wake of his work the bruises faded quickly, nearly as though they'd never been. The body beneath him arched up in the makings of bliss. He sighed and moaned and his hands clung to Doumeki's jacket as if he'd fall away without it. How could the pain diminish so quickly? It was like slipping into a warm bath after a cold rainfall.

After the licks and touches moved to the other side of the neck and up Watanuki's angular jawline they found themselves kissing again. It was much better this time. There was no crying or screaming or pain. The shorter male moaned loudly this time and Doumeki's hands found the wound on the afflicted shoulder and touched every piece of skin they could come in contact with.

"Doumeki..."

Said male lifted himself up and looked around the room. He did not see any remainder of the Hell Hound. "Is it gone now?"

The blue-eyed student blinked himself back to awareness and looked around. "They're... all gone," he said in disbelief.

Doumeki sighed with relief. Considering the boundaries he'd already pushed he felt he should probably get up and allow Watanuki some space. He did so and was surprised that his body suddenly missed the contact.

"Well," Watanuki said dazedly.

"Yeah," Doumeki agreed.

Watanuki sat upright and leaned on his table. Already he looked infinitely better than he had all day at school that day, even if his clothing was now ruined with blood. "Look, this has gotten awkward enough. Go home, I'll go buy some more wards. I'll be fine."

"You're an idiot," Doumeki pointed out.

Watanuki scowled angrily. "I've lived on my own since I was six! I can manage just fine!"

"It's gotten worse," was his deadpan reply.

"I'll be fine!" Watanuki insisted again.

"I'm staying the night," the other declared.

"What?" He squeaked. Huh, that was a funny response. "You... you can't! You have school work, and you don't have any clothes here! I can't feed you!"

"I'm staying anyway," Doumeki confirmed. Even if he had to go hungry, go to school in dirty clothes and miss his homework, he was staying.

"Why?"

"Because," Doumeki said. "If I leave tonight, you will disappear. I don't want you to."

"You... you're a freak," was the weak response.

"No more a freak than you are."

"Tch!" Watanuki got up and stomped into his kitchen where he immediately grabbed a rag and started to clean the spilled tea on his table and floor.

Other than the spilled beverage and spots of blood on the floor there was no other visible damage from the deamon. The wards that had been on the walls of the apartment were gone with barely a ghosting of dark burn marks.

Watanuki flitted about the kitchen quickly while he prepared dinner. He muttered curses to himself quietly as he worked. Doumeki contented himself with removing his ruined coat and pulling the one English assignment he had with him out to work on.

Dinner was yakisoba with fried vegetable tempura and pickled vegetables. The food tasted even better than the onigiri Watanuki had served up as a snack when they'd first sat down. Doumeki cleaned his plate and immediately asked for seconds. Watanuki, as expected, was not pleased. "Do you have a black hole for a stomach? That was a _ton_ of food!"

"I'm still hungry," was the bland reply.

"You're impossible!" Watanuki groused, but he took the plate and refilled it anyway. For all of the complaining he did Doumeki was pleased with how quickly Watanuki did what was asked of him.

Just as he was polishing off his last piece of tempura Watanuki asked him a question he didn't know he could answer. With a sigh the blue-eyed teenager ran a hand through his tousled hair and stared at the table. "How long will the... warding... last?"

Doumeki put his chopsticks down on his plate. "I don't know."

"Not at _all?_" Watanuki pressed. "Weeks? Days? Hours?"

"Paper wards are supposed to last for years, decades even. Yours burned up with an exorcist _in__your__house_ after a couple of weeks. It could fade just before going to bed for all I can guess."

The delicate face looked crushed. "Fine," he bit out, clearly upset with the answer. He grabbed their dishes and started to vigorously wash them in his sink.

"How are you still alive?" Doumeki asked bluntly. "Why have things become worse?"

Watanuki glared at him for nearly a minute before he sat back down at the table. His eyes glanced over Doumeki's homework with disdain before his face fell into a look of sadness. "When I was young, just entering middle school, I met another boy on the way home from buying groceries one day. The creaking white hands had started to follow me like they usually did, but this time they ended up cornering me by the river. Just as I was surrounded a voice from above told me to climb the tree next to me. I did. The boy that had climbed up before me told me to throw some of the salt I had just bought on the hands, so when I did it caused them to vanish."

"White hands," Doumeki asked.

"Bone white," Watanuki confirmed. "When they move it sounds like stone breaking." He shook his head. "Anyway, we became great friends after that. He saw spirits like I did, and he knew more about them. He taught me a lot about defending myself from them. As for the bigger ones, we always managed to run fast enough to get away." He looked off to the side then. His eyes appeared to be wet. "On my birthday he told me to meet him by the river where we met and he would give me a birthday present. I had been very excited. He was my only friend and I hadn't received a birthday present since my parents died." He sucked in a shaky breath. Doumeki was worried about what he'd be told.

Watanuki dug for something in his pocket and extended his clasped hands out on the table. "My friend gave me this." His hands parted and a small, shapeless piece of a hard white substance clattered onto the table. Doumeki stared at it. He almost didn't want to know. "It was a piece of his bone," Watanuki clarified. "He'd been dead for months already. The white hands had sucked him underground where he suffocated. His piece of bone has been protecting me all this time. A couple of weeks ago, it stopped working. The attacks have gotten progressively worse."

Doumeki exhaled slowly. "And then I found you."

Watanuki glowered a little at the reminder of Doumeki's presence, but eventually just deflated. "Yeah," he agreed.

Doumeki did not say anything else. The mood was heavy and neither had the energy to change it.

Getting ready for bed was an odd affair. Doumeki was firm and unwilling to change his mind when he insisted they would both sleep on the one futon in the apartment. Watanuki didn't want to sleep in the same _room _as him, much less the same bed!

Not that Watanuki had any spare blankets or sleeping surfaces in the first place...

The shorter teen huffed like a scolded child and curled in on himself on his side as he settled under the covers. Doumeki, the jerk, was laying on his back and taking up a good portion of the futon. In order to not touch him Watanuki was forced to lay on his side. "Jerk," he muttered as they drifted off to sleep.

"Hn," was Doumeki's only response.

. . . . . . . . . .

Doumeki jerked up, wide awake, at the sound of coughing. They couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour and already something was attacking his peer again. Watanuki was shaking violently. His face was flushed and red, his lips blue and eyes wide. Doumeki was swift to push the boy onto his back fully and climb on top. As it had been the only thing to work so definitively before he once again kissed the boy beneath him.

Once he could breathe again Watanuki was quick to respond. He kissed back, hard and hungry and his fingers dug demandingly into Doumeki's short black hair. Doumeki wasted no time removing their sleeping clothes and spreading kisses to every inch of skin he could reach. Watanuki's body beneath him felt good, _really_ good even. The shorter teen moaned and arched up into him. Their erections rubbed against each other and the friction was so hot Watanuki thought he might collapse.

When his hand gripped Watanuki's suddenly throbbing member the boy cried out "_Doumeki!_"

"Shizuka," he gasped in correction.

"What?" Watanuki asked in a daze.

"My given name is Shizuka," he elaborated. "Call me by my name."

"But-!"

"Kimihiro," he interrupted.

"Don't be so intimate!"

"_Kimihiro,_" Doumeki stressed again. "Look at what we are doing."

Watanuki did, shocked to realize his hands were gripping Doumeki tightly and his legs were spread, the larger male snugly pressed against him. He didn't remember losing his clothes. "I..."

"Kimihiro, I need you to trust me."

Watanuki swallowed and thought about how he hadn't been able to actually swallow anything, food or otherwise, without pain for at least a week. He felt not even the slightest bit of physical discomfort at the moment. Slowly, he jerked his head in agreement. "Okay."

Doumeki kissed him again, and this time he did not stop.


	4. Chapter 4

Watanuki blinked his sleepy eyes open. He felt mildly confused as he awoke. He was warm and content and felt vaguely satisfied in a way he'd never felt before. But... something was... different? Yes... definitely different...

It was so _quiet..._

With a gasp of breath he went to sit upright. He found himself very irritated to find a large, heavy arm slung across his chest and keeping him on the futon. "_Doumeki!" _He hissed. "You're heavy!"

"... Hn..." Doumeki grunted. He moved a little as Watanuki woke him as well. His muscles stretched then tightened, which pulled Watanuki closer still.

"Doumeki..." Watanuki growled.

"Noisy," Doumeki mumbled. "Go back to sleep."

"I can't do that! We have school today! Get up! Doumeki!"

"Shizuka," he corrected, his eyes still closed.

"Don't be so-"

"Shizuka," Doumeki interrupted. "I told you that last night."

There was an audible _snap_ as Watanuki closed his mouth. A fine dusting of a blush spread across his cheeks. He rolled over and started to push away Doumeki's still unmoved arm. "It's quiet this morning. There aren't any spirits anywhere, not even at the windows." Finally he managed to push away the offending limb and started to crawl out from underneath the covers.

Doumeki opened his eyes when he heard a small hiss of discomfort from his sleeping partner. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Watanuki bit out.

Doumeki continued to stare at Watanuki's back. "Are you sure? You're probably a little sore."

"Well, I _wouldn't_ be sore right now if you hadn't... with your..." Watanuki's face heated up even more. He was already in the makings of getting thrown into another animated fit.

Doumeki smirked in a very satisfied way. "If I remember, _you_ were the one that pushed me on the ground to go on top. Any roughness you did to yourself."

"That's because you weren't hitting the right spot! It didn't feel as good!"

Doumeki smirked again even wider.

Watanuki's eyes went wide when he realized what he had just said. He stood up and scowled darkly. He grabbed the blankets and wrapped them around himself as he stood up and walked towards the bathroom. He looked back behind him at Doumeki's naked form as he lay on the futon, uncaring that he was completely exposed. The taller male rested a hand on his chest as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. "Have you _no_ shame?" Watanuki demanded.

Doumeki looked at him. It was one of _those_ looks, the one that said he was staring at an idiot. "What should I be ashamed of?"

"P-Pervert!" He stuttered, then shuffled into the bathroom to shower.

. . . . . . . .

Watanuki found himself getting harassed as he made their lunchboxes for the day. Arms as thick and sturdy as tree branches slipped around his waist and pulled him in against a broad chest. "Do you _mind?_" He squeaked. "I'm trying to cook!"

"Is there inarizushi?" Doumeki asked him.

"Is there-" Watanuki started to rage. "Do you have any idea how long it takes to cook that? I don't even have all the ingredients!"

"Then... rice balls?"

"Of course there's rice balls!" Watanuki pointed sharply at his dining table. "Go eat your breakfast."

Doumeki looked at the table. A big bowl of tamagoyaki was waiting for him. "I thought you said you couldn't afford to feed me."

"I can't," Watanuki snapped. "This will be the last of my food for a couple of days."

Doumeki frowned. He didn't like that answer at all. "Wait for me after practice today. We'll go to the grocery store."

"With what money?" Watanuki asked hotly.

"I have some," Doumeki answered. He released his hold on the shorter male and seated himself at the table.

"And you just expect me to wait for you after school?" Watanuki asked with disdain. He brought over a cup of tea and sat it next to Doumeki's bowl.

"Yes," was the stoic reply.

Watanuki sat down heavily on the other side of the table. "I'm not happy about this, for the record. I didn't ask for your help."

Doumeki looked up from his meal. "Would you rather be dead?"

Watanuki looked shocked at the question, then snarled. "Don't ask stupid questions!"

"It's not a stupid question. Do you want to live?"

The blue eyed teenager found himself suddenly very uncomfortable as he was pinned with that sharp golden stare. Doumeki was _serious_ about this question. He squirmed a little in his seat. He hated how Doumeki could stare at him as though he were a misbehaving child. "I _want_ to live," he said at length. "I do."

Doumeki nodded. He appeared to accept the answer. "Good." He took another bite of food. "Then wait for me after school."

"Tch!" Watanuki stood up and headed into the kitchen to finish with their lunches. At least he had stopped arguing about grocery shopping.

They walked together down the sidewalk towards Private Cross High School that morning. Watanuki seemed like he couldn't decide if he wanted to walk just ahead of Doumeki, slink along behind him, or suck it up and walk beside him. Doumeki found the wide mix of emotions baffling and amusing all at the same time.

"Don't even breathe a _word_ of this at school," Watanuki warned before they entered the gates. "You'll be fine, I'm sure, but I get picked on enough as it is. The bullies will never let me live this down if they find out."

"Hm," Doumeki hummed noncommittally. Watanuki glowered because it was not the agreement he'd been looking for.

No one stared as they walked in to school together and went their separate ways to their lockers. Watanuki stowed away his lunch box as he always did in the mornings and went to his first class, homework in hand. He headed straight for the back of the classroom. At least he wouldn't have to feel Doumeki's eyes staring at his back if he was in the last row. It would be too awkward.

It was quiet all through their first period English class. No one seemed keen on speaking up much that day and Watanuki made it into second period without being ridiculed by someone yet. That in itself was a bit of a blessing. Maybe that... _warding_... stuff... whatever Doumeki wanted to call it, helped to make him less noticeable to normal people too? That would be a valued benefit if it was the case!

Third period was a math test. Doumeki had been bent over his work for nearly half an hour trying to puzzle out the equations. While he certainly didn't lag in any of his classes he couldn't say he really liked mathematics. He found them boring, really. In his boredom he was quick to pick up on the sound of someone coughing a few seats behind him. Extremely sensitive to such an act after the previous night Doumeki whipped his head around to see Watanuki leaning over his desk, one hand covering his mouth and nose and another wrapped around his neck.

_Again... __it's __happening __again..._

He coughed more, loud and wheezing and it looked like he wasn't going to stop.

Muwahara-sensei came up to the noisy student's desk to check on him. "Watanuki-kun, are you all right?"

Watanuki made a strange sort of strangled noise deep in his throat, his eyes wide. Everyone was staring.

Doumeki stood up and walked directly to Watanuki's side. "I'll take him to the nurse, sensei." He pulled Watanuki up out of his desk and started towards the door.

"Yes, thank you, Doumeki-kun. You'll be excused from your math test for now. You can complete it later this week."

Doumeki spared the math teacher a glance before he ushered his charge out of the door. "Thank you, sensei."

Instead of going to the nurse's office Doumeki grabbed Watanuki's hand and started running towards the restrooms. He was very grateful that their school had a separate, single, _lockable_ restroom for disabled individuals. He shoved the coughing boy inside, locked the door, and pushed Watanuki against the wall and kissed him. He definitely did not like the feeling of the shorter male coughing against his face so forcefully, but eventually Watanuki was able to calm down and breathe normally. As with the night before he responded to the kisses with surprising gusto. It was nearly five minutes before they broke apart for air.

Doumeki pulled away briefly. Watanuki gasped for breath – softly and sweetly and not with even a trace of pain – and moaned out "_Shizuka," _and his hand pulled at Doumeki's shirt tightly.

Doumeki felt an uncontrolled shiver roll gently down his spine at the appreciated use of his given name. "Kimihiro," he said back.

Watanuki let his head fall back against the wall and closed his eyes. "...Stupid," he muttered. He squeezed his eyes closed.

Doumeki checked his watch. It was ten thirty in the morning. It didn't seem to have lasted very long. "What time did we have sex last night?"

Watanuki's face immediately heated up and his eyes flew open. "What? How can you ask that so casually?"

Doumeki blinked with surprise. "What, sex?"

Watanuki looked appropriately violated. "Yes, that! Don't say it like that!"

"Why?"

Watanuki's muscles vibrated with frustration. Why did the bastard have to look so _bored_ talking about such a sensitive topic? "Because, you uncivilized cretin! It's crude, that's why!"

Doumeki almost snorted. "Then what should I call it?"

Er... "It's not something you're supposed to talk about!" The way the blush kept growing was really cute Doumeki observed.

Doumeki sighed. "You still didn't answer my question."

"What, what time?"

"Yeah."

Watanuki looked off to the side, as though looking away negated the fact he was still pinned in Doumeki's arms against the wall with one of his legs hooked pleasantly around the taller male's waist. "I don't know, around ten-ish? I was kind of _asleep_ when I was attacked."

Doumeki nodded. "Twelve hours."

"...What?" Watanuki asked, his voice suddenly weak. He felt he knew the answer but he did not want to hear it confirmed.

"It lasted twelve hours," Doumeki elaborated. "The ward that... intimacy created, lasted twelve hours."

Slowly his eyes started to grow wider and wider. "Are you saying that... we have to... twice a day? Every _twelve __hours?_"

Doumeki started to unbutton the top of his shirt. "Looks like it."

He squeaked. In a most horrid and very undignified manner Watanuki squeaked. He couldn't even fathom that he'd done _it _once already, and with _Doumeki_ of all people! But _twice __a __day __every __twelve __hours?_ "I'll never be able to walk again!" Was the first thing he cried out.

Doumeki smirked. "There are other things that can be done."

The blush on his face felt hot. He knew he looked like a tomato. "How would you know?"

"Grandfather's library is huge. There's a good sized section of it that's dedicated to kama sutra books. They were very informative."

"P-Pervert!" Dammit, he squeaked again. Watanuki almost wondered if he should go with the alternative. Maybe choking to death would be preferable to having _Doumeki_ all over him twice a day. And every _twelve_ hours! Like clockwork!

He was going to die anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

He was trembling and gasping for breath. His legs felt weak and jittery and the spots that were dancing before his eyes slowly started to clear. Watanuki clung to Doumeki's shoulders while large hands gripped him beneath his knees and kept him elevated. The wall he was still pressed into had grown warm behind him after their exertions.

Now that he had his sanity back again Watanuki knew he'd been stupid. Stiffness and soreness were slowly and steadily climbing up his lower back and spine. He'd _told_ Doumeki that they couldn't do it... _that _way... but dammit it all once Doumeki's fingers slipped inside of him and pressed _right __there _he became nothing more than a demanding pile of putty in Doumeki's hands. It also wasn't helping him that the oaf was still _inside __of __him..._

"Ow," Watanuki muttered. He winced as he flexed his legs and tried to start standing. Doumeki's body all around him was like trying to move against a wall of cement.

"...Sorry," Doumeki murmured in his ear. "I shouldn't have..."

"S'my fault," Watanuki tiredly replied. "Now just... help me get dressed again."

"Right," was the other male's response. He slipped out without a sound and dropped one of Watanuki's shaking legs. His knees would have given out had Doumeki not been holding him up so carefully. He blinked when he felt soft lips touch his forehead in a kiss.

"Why do you... how can you..." Watanuki started, his face scrunched up in frustration.

"Hm?" Doumeki hummed in question.

"_This!_" The shorter male demanded. "How can you do this so casually! You're not... you're supposed to... _Argh!" _One of his hands gripped his hair in consternation. "You don't even like me! How can you do this with me?"

"I never said I don't like you," Doumeki remarked.

"That's beside the point!" Watanuki growled. "You're supposed to do this one someone you love! You can't... you've only known me for a couple of days!"

Doumeki blinked at him, his face expressionless and neutral as always. It made Watanuki want to punch something. "I like you."

"But you don't love me! You're only supposed to do this sort of stuff with someone you love!" The hand that was still holding up his other leg squeezed a little tighter while the other hand slipped around his back and pulled their chests flush together.

Doumeki looked him deeply in the eyes. "We have a unique situation. I like you. A lot. Love can come in time."

Watanuki gaped at him. "You're crazy."

Doumeki dropped his partner's other leg. He bent down and picked up a pair of discarded pants. He held them up with one finger hooked through a belt loop. "You're half naked." He quirked a single eyebrow up.

He growled and grabbed for the pants. "Jerk."

Doumeki smirked.

. . . . . . . . .

Watanuki snarled when he felt a presence looming over him at his locker. He looked up once he retrieved his wrapped lunch boxes and glared at the taller student standing above him. "Here's your lunch." He thrust out a hand that held one of the lunches.

Doumeki stared at him intensely as he took the offered food. "Where are we eating today?"

"_You_," Watanuki started, pointing a finger at him in warning, "are eating lunch wherever you normally do. _I _am eating lunch alone."

The staring did not stop. "Why?"

"I told you already!" Watanuki huffed. "No one at school can know about... this! Whatever this is! Just go about your business as you normally do."

"You are my business now," Doumeki deadpanned. "I want to eat lunch with you."

"Tch!" The shorter male stomped a foot. "I need some alone time! I'm not used to being around someone else so much!"

Doumeki turned the answer over in his head. He hadn't thought about the adjustment time someone like Watanuki might need. It might be a little overwhelming to be with someone a lot if they'd been alone for so many years. "... Fine," he said at length. "Don't run away after school, though."

Watanuki closed his locker with a little more force than necessary and turned sharply towards the doors. "I already said I would wait for you! Geez, you're such an overbearing oaf!"

Doumeki put a finger in his ear and followed Watanuki outside. "You're so loud."

"Cretin!"

Once they were outside Watanuki made a swift beeline towards the half dead sakura tree he always sat under. Doumeki wandered about for a few seconds before he heard familiar voices calling his name. Normally it was his peers from the archery team that he ate lunch with, though most of the jocks from the other sports teams were there as well. Doumeki never really cared where he ate lunch. He usually just sat down wherever someone was calling him from that day. Since it made no difference to him where he ate he figured he could appease his peers by sitting with them.

He sat down at the end of the table that was, luckily enough, in view of Watanuki on the other side of the lawn.

Watanuki himself was just starting to sit down with his lunch and what looked like a paper-back book in his hands. Doumeki frowned a little when he noticed how slowly the other male lowered himself to sit down. He used the tree behind him for leverage and was very careful about how far he leaned forward or backward. Doumeki reminded himself that he couldn't get carried away the next time. It would take time for the shorter male's body to adjust to the constant physical intrusions.

"Doumeki-kun, you _dog!_" One of the boys next to him gasped out. "Which girl fell in love with you this time? Just _look _at that lunch!"

Doumeki tore his eyes away from Watanuki and looked down at the lunch box he'd just opened. He hadn't even been paying attention to what his hands had been doing while he stared. He was a little surprised to see just how much detail was put into his food.

"Oh, _man,_" someone else said, mouth agape. "Are you going to eat all of that, Doumeki-sempai?"

Hm, an underclassman. Doumeki didn't remember the last time an underclassman had eaten lunch with their group.

The rice balls were shaped like little cat heads with perfectly rounded ears, black sesame seed lips and pickled ginger cut for a perfect pink nose. Watanuki had even used sesame seeds for the whiskers. The small sausages were shaped like miniature octopuses and his carrots were shaped like stars and sakura flowers.

Even the broccoli was cut and stood upright like little bonsai trees!

Doumeki might have drooled a little bit when he noticed there was inarizushi in his lunch box. Watanuki's cooking had blown him away each time already, he couldn't _wait_ to eat his favorite food cooked by the shorter male.

"New girlfriend, Doumeki-kun?"

Doumeki eagerly stabbed his chopsticks into his rolled ahi tuna sushi and stuffed it in his mouth. He looked up at the student next to him briefly "Something like that."

The table breathed in collectively in anticipation. "Doumeki-kun has a girlfriend? Who is it?"

There was a cry of despair a few seats down. It sounded like one of the girls in their class. Doumeki contented himself with eating and not responding.

"Uwaaaaah! Doumeki-sempai is so cruel to not tell us anything!" Someone bemoaned.

He turned his brass colored eyes back to Watanuki. The blue eyed student had just finished with his food, only half eaten, and was working on getting back up. His face was screwed up as though he were in pain. Doumeki felt a stab of guilt roil unpleasantly in his stomach.

. . . . . . . . .

Doumeki took the string off his bow and packed up the rest of his gear as quickly as he could. Watanuki was waiting in the spectator stands with a grumpy look on his face.

He grabbed his bags and headed to the entrance to the practice field. Watanuki took that as the sign that he was finished and stood up from the stands and practically leaped down the stairs to the ground. His blue eyes were sharp and disapproving when he looked at Doumeki. He crossed his arms and tapped a foot in impatience. The taller male reflected that he looked very girly doing something like that.

"You're still wearing your hakama and keiko-gi," Watanuki pointed out.

"Yeah," Doumeki replied. "Let's go."

"W-We can't go to the grocery store with you looking like that!"

"Why not?"

Watanuki blushed in his rage. "Because, you oblivious moron! Your..." His arms flailed about in front of him.

Doumeki raised an eyebrow.

"You jerk!" Watanuki raged. "Half of your chest is visible! And those pants look funny! Go put your normal clothes on!"

Doumeki started to walk towards the school's exit. "It's fine. I've gone to the store in this before."

"You're impossible!" Watanuki glowered but followed along behind him.

Apparently Doumeki made quite a habit of doing his shopping at this store in his archery clothes because not very many people paid any attention to them as they walked down the aisles of food.

And Watanuki did _not_ admit that he felt a tiny little spark of jealousy whenever a woman would blush and giggle with her friends when they noticed Doumeki's firm chest visible in the gi that he wore. Watanuki thought the boy might as well have just worn a robe to the store instead.

Doumeki picked up a bottle of soy sauce and held it out to Watanuki. "I like this brand."

"Don't be stupid," Watanuki retorted. He snatched the bottle from Doumeki's hand and put it back on the shelf. "I don't buy store made sauces. I make them myself."

Doumeki's eyebrows rose sharply up in surprise. "You brew your own soy sauce?"

"Yes," Watanuki replied. One of his eyebrows twitched with annoyance.

"What about sweet and sour sauce?"

"That too!"

Doumeki looked at the basket that Watanuki was carrying. It only had fruits, vegetables, oil, flour and meat in it. "Do you grow your own rice?"

"Don't be stupid! Does it look like my apartment has space for a rice paddy field?"

Doumeki shrugged. "Do we need rice then?"

"Of course we need rice!"

Doumeki leaned down and picked up one of the largest bags of rice from the bottom shelf.

Watanuki nearly squeaked again for the third embarrassing time that day. "That's a twenty pound bag of rice! I only get the five pound bags! I don't have room for that in my kitchen!"

"We'll eat it fast enough." Doumeki slung the bag over his shoulder and held it in place. "I eat about twice the amount of food you do. You're too skinny."

"I eat just fine!" Watanuki turned and started walking towards the registers. "Don't you have a family? Aren't they going to wonder where you're at? They must be worried sick!"

"It's fine," was the lame response. "My father moved out years ago. It's just my mother and grandfather at the shrine. Grandfather is away from town for the week on business. Explaining you to mom without his help wouldn't be easy."

Watanuki froze in mid step. "What?"

Doumeki readjusted the rice on his shoulder. "My mother is a mild mannered woman, but she's never believed in the supernatural. She thinks grandfather continues on with the work for the shrine because of tradition. My grandfather Haruka is a very powerful exorcist. His Sight has always been better than mine. I'll need his help explaining you to mom."

The look on Watanuki's face was hard to read. "You didn't tell me this would cause so much trouble for you at home. It's your _family_! I can't..."

"You're not any trouble," Doumeki affirmed. "My mom will be fine. She doesn't worry much. This is my decision."

Watanuki looked crushed, but he looked away and didn't say any more. Family was very important to him, even more so because he had lost his so young. He couldn't fathom being so careless about their feelings.

A warm hand lightly landed on his lower back. Doumeki leaned down near his ear. "It's all right." The hand slipped around his lower waist. "No one is getting hurt by this. By us."

Watanuki looked away and blushed.

"I will keep you safe."

"You're weird," he mumbled.

"No more weird than you are."


	6. Chapter 6

Watanuki was right, of course. He _didn't_ have space in his kitchen to store a twenty pound bag of rice. The bag had to be propped up against one of the counters even though it was still kind of in the way. Watanuki and Doumeki had to make sure that they watched their steps as they went to and from the kitchen lest they knock the whole bag over.

They ate their dinner late that night. Watanuki turned on the little radio as he prepared their meal and mostly ignored the other person in his apartment as he worked. Doumeki did his homework then helped set the table.

Dinner was delicious, as usual. Perhaps there was something about making all of the sauces from scratch after all.

Watanuki cleaned all of the dishes afterward, then moved on to mop the floor. Doumeki watched as after the mopping was finished the bathroom was tackled next. Watanuki was absolutely ruthless with his cleaning. There was no crevice or space left untouched when he cleaned. Even the floor smelled minty-fresh.

After a couple of hours Doumeki got up from the table and went into the small bedroom. Watanuki had a duster in hand and was cleaning the window sill on the back wall. "Kimihiro."

The shorter male's body visibly flinched. The grip on the feather duster turned his knuckles white. "I'm busy," he declared.

"Kimihiro, it's ten o'clock," Doumeki reminded him.

Those blue eyes would not look at him. "I have half an hour left, let me finish cleaning."

He sighed and walked the few paces across the room to Watanuki's side. His hands found the shorter male's shoulders and gently squeezed. "I won't hurt you."

"It's not that!" Watanuki retorted. He turned in place to face Doumeki but found he needed to back up a foot. They were so close he wouldn't have been able to look up properly. "It's just-!" He huffed and held the feather duster to his chest. "It's not fair! I want a normal life!"

Doumeki's hand glided up Watanuki's arm and to the feather duster. His fingers laced through the shorter male's and slowly, delicately extracted the item from the tight grip that was on it. He tossed the duster to the side and brought Watanuki's newly freed hand up to his face. He pressed a small kiss to the inside of the palm. "I'm sorry."

"D-Don't be an idiot. What are you apologizing for? It's not your fault."

Doumeki hugged him. "I'm sorry I'm not stronger, to keep you safe in a better way."

Watanuki sighed against his cheek. "Moron."

"Idiot," Doumeki replied affectionately. He cupped Watanuki's face and kissed him soundly.

Watanuki tried very hard to stop the way his heart thudded with a great force in his chest. He understood now the phrase '_butterflies __in __your __stomach_' because it felt like soft and delicate butterfly wings were flapping against the inside of his chest. It almost tickled.

He was only supposed to feel this way when he fell in love, and this twisted existence couldn't be love...!

The taller male's lips were warm and his breath moist as he kissed, pulled away, kissed again and repeated the process. Watanuki's hands reached around and dug into Doumeki's white school shirt. The material wrinkled quickly in his grip.

Doumeki shifted his head and pressed closer, the kiss deeper suddenly and then there was a tongue in his mouth and tasting everything and oh, the world just _faded __away_ when Doumeki kissed him like that.

His eyes were closed but he felt the buttons on his shirt open and cool evening air hit his newly exposed skin. Once the garment fell away large warm hands ran down his chest, around to his back, up his spine and pulled them flush together.

Doumeki kept his promise. He did not hurt Watanuki this time, even though he very much wanted to be inside that exquisite body. He laid Watanuki down on the futon and paid every special attention he could to the shorter male.

Above everything else, he was gentle. More gentle than Watanuki deserved, surely.

He fought to regain his breath after completion, his vision a little hazy and his body thrumming with pleasure. Doumeki flopped down on the futon next to him, his hold firm and steady as he curled around the shorter male's sprawled form.

Doumeki cupped his partner's cheek and kissed his temple. Watanuki cried.

It was small and quiet and nearly missed, but Doumeki's hearing was good and he felt the nearly imperceptible shakes as tears poured down Watanuki's face. He was sure he hadn't done anything wrong, had been gentle and caring and most certainly _not_ selfish in his own desires because they hadn't had intercourse.

Why did he suddenly feel so awful then? "Don't cry," he whispered. He used his thumb to wipe away the tears.

"Shut up," Watanuki mumbled, his voice thick. "I don't know why I'm crying." His body shook a little more as he tried to hold back more tears. Doumeki wrapped his arm around Watanuki tightly and held him against his chest.

"I'm sorry," Doumeki said into Watanuki's neck.

"Go to sleep."

. . . . . . . .

By the dawning of the fourth day they'd finally worked out a routine that seemed to fit around school, homework and dinner. They would both wake up at six in the morning, shower (because Watanuki refused to let Doumeki touch him when the jerk still had morning breath and smelled like sweat) and have sex. By the time they were done it was usually quarter to seven, so Watanuki would grab the lunch boxes he'd assembled the previous night and they would gather their things and walk to school together.

Watanuki hadn't cried anymore during intimacy. Doumeki was always the one to initiate it but Watanuki had stopped fighting him. Neither brought up the incident, Watanuki too embarrassed to talk about it and Doumeki wary of making Watanuki upset.

The school day itself was normal, and still Watanuki insisted on eating his lunch alone during the day. The only attention he'd received was when he had to stay after for Doumeki's archery practice, because there weren't very many people in the spectator stands after school. Luckily it was only three days a week, so it didn't happen that often yet.

Doumeki had noticed the odd looks after the second practice session that Watanuki sat in on. He generally liked his teammates and didn't think any of them would cause trouble, so when one of them pointed Watanuki out to him he shrugged it off with an easy "He's doing his homework, and it's nice out. Why should I care?"

After that no one said anything. Doumeki had expected such a reaction and was happy with their response. He knew the secret would come out, as things like this didn't _like_ being kept secret and would be found out eventually. Doumeki was hoping that when it did he could count on the archery team to help insulate Watanuki from the ridicule of bullies.

On the tenth day Doumeki was in the middle of his second period history class when he was summoned to the principal's office. He blinked in confusion when an aid held out a note to his teacher and asked for him for the rest of the class.

He felt Watanuki's deep blue eyes staring at him as he walked out of the classroom and followed the aid down the hallway.

The principal's room was as average of an office as they came. It had a wood desk with a computer monitor on it and a standard black keyboard and mouse. The hardware had a fine layer of dust on it and looked like it hadn't been used in a while.

Principal Kinomoto stepped in the door and looked at Doumeki a moment, his face in a frown. "Doumeki-kun, I must admit that I'm a bit surprised. You've been attending school like normal and you don't seem to be in ill shape, but I've just received very disturbing news from you family."

Doumeki rose an eyebrow up in question. "Oh?"

The Principal motioned his hand towards the door in a gesture of invitation. Both of Doumeki's eyebrows rose up when he saw who entered. "Grandfather."

Doumeki Haruka smiled in his normal fashion when his eyes landed on his grandson. "Shizuka-kun. Long time no see." He looked back to the principal. "Thank you for summoning him. I should like some privacy with my grandson."

"Of course," Kinomoto replied. He bowed slightly and left, closing the office's door behind him as he did.

Haruka took one of the seats in front of the desk and motioned for Doumeki to take a seat as well. He did. "I didn't realize you were back from your trip yet," Doumeki started.

Haruka knitted his fingers together and settled himself in his chair. "How could I not? Your mother called me yesterday in a fit of worry. She said that she hasn't seen or heard from you in days."

Doumeki sighed. "I didn't realize she would worry so much. She's usually very busy with her job."

"True," Haruka agreed, "but she still notices. She is my daughter, after all. Interestingly enough, you've been attending school each day. Where have you been staying?"

"I'm glad you're back early," Doumeki admitted. "I've been helping someone, and I need your help explaining it to mom."

Hakura's golden colored eyes, the very eye color that Doumeki had inherited, looked at his grandson with a grave expression. "Helping someone with the spirit realm?"

"Yeah."

Haruka unclasped his hands and rubbed his fingers along his chin. "You've not been trained yet in exorcism because your talent hasn't matured yet. It would be like trying to teach you to paint calligraphy without a hand or a brush. Your training beyond the religion and mysticism should start once you turn eighteen."

Doumeki digested that information. He hadn't known that yet. "So that's why your Sight is better than mine?"

"Exactly," Hakura confirmed. "This friend of yours, what kind of spirits have been bothering them?"

"Everything," Doumeki replied. "Everything in the spirit world."

"I know you're not one to exaggerate, Shizuka, but are you sure about everything?"

"He was attacked by a Hell Hound."

Haruka sat upright in his chair. "A high level daemon?"

Doumeki nodded.

His grandfather's face became scrutinizing. "How have you protected this person?"

The teenager closed his eyes. "The only thing that has worked is intimacy."

There was a few seconds of silence before Hakura responded. "That's the only thing? What else have you tried?"

"He bought the wards you make and sell at the shrine. They burned up after a couple of weeks. Wards from other shrines he said would only last a few days. Kimihiro said purified salt stopped working on what he calls 'bosses' years ago, but it still works on the weaker spirits, like the white hands."

"He's bothered by those, too, huh?" Haruka murmured. "How often does intimacy have to occur?"

"Every twelve hours."

"Heavens," Haruka gasped. "Where is this boy now?"

"He's in class. I've been wary to separate from him for extended periods of time. My presence has helped with certain spirits in the past."

Haruka ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair and smiled. "Fascinating."

"What?" Doumeki asked.

"A person so haunted by the spirit world they require intimacy with an exorcist. Don't be fooled, Shizuka-kun. If you saw the Hell Hound at this young an age, even for a moment, it means you're going to be a stronger exorcist than even myself once you're older. This boy's plight is grave. It is fascinating that you found him and fell in love so quickly."

"Love?" The teenager asked, clearly not drawing a connection.

Haruka chuckled. "An exorcist's kiss is worthless on a person he doesn't care for, the same with intimacy. To be attacked by a higher level daemon unprovoked means only the most powerful of seals could protect him, and only the most potent of love could ward him."

He was in love. Huh. From all of the sappy stories from movies and literature Doumeki thought it was supposed to be more... earth shattering or something, when a person realized they were in love. "Huh," was all he could say.

Haruka laughed. "Come home tonight, Shizuka, and bring this boy with you. It would be safest to keep him at the shrine."

"What about mom?"

Hakura stood up and smiled. "Don't worry. I'll take care of your mother. Bring him over immediately after school. If you have archery practice today I want you to skip it. Tell me, what have his parents said about all this?"

"He's an orphan. He's been living alone since the age of six."

The smile slipped from Haruka's face as he opened the door and Doumeki followed. "Tragic." He clasped his grandson's shoulder and squeezed gently. "What is his name?"

"Watanuki Kimihiro."

"Kimihiro," Hakura repeated. He nodded his head. "All right then. I'll see you after school, Shizuka-kun."

Watanuki wasn't going to like this one bit.


	7. Chapter 7

Yellow eyes intently watched a blue eyed student as his pencil scribbled across his homework. Watanuki's forehead was scrunched just slightly as he worked through the long and complicated chemistry equations. Their class was working on stoichiometry that week and it was their third assignment to deal with such math. Watanuki hated this work much more than the empirical formulas they'd been learning just a few weeks ago and his frustration was apparent on his face. Doumeki thought he looked rather cute as he worked.

Doumeki ignored his own homework in study hall that day as he mused over what his grandfather had told him. Apparently he was in love. How had that happened so quickly? He didn't think he was one to ignore what he was feeling. Rather the opposite, actually. Watanuki scolded him frequently for being so blunt and honest all the time. He must have simply accepted the fact that Watanuki needed him and was going to be a part of his life from now on without the _need_ to question it.

The taller male pictured in his mind how he'd react if something terrible happened to his partner. If Watanuki was ever hurt, killed, or taken away... it left a sour taste in his mouth just imagining it. He wanted more than anything just for Watanuki to be happy. He didn't care what it took, even if the boy had to insult him for the rest of their lives, as long as he was alive enough to smile it was worth it.

If that was love, then Doumeki was fine with it. Maybe someday Watanuki would be fine with it, too.

When classes were released for the day Doumeki resisted the urge to rest his hand on the small of Watanuki's back as he came up behind him at his locker. There were still a lot of students milling around in the halls and it would upset the shorter male should someone see contact. "Come on, we're going home."

Watanuki spun around in front of his locker. "What! Why? What about your archery practice?" His eyes widened in worry. "Wait, is this because you were called out of class? What happened?"

Doumeki felt a little bubble of happiness in his chest that Watanuki would openly worry about something as small as missing archery practice. "My grandfather came home early. He asked me to skip practice tonight and bring you over."

The blood drained from Watanuki's already naturally pale face. "Y-your house? We're supposed to go to your house and meet your grandfather?"

"And my mom," Doumeki added, unaffected by the shorter male's sudden panic.

"But-!"

"It's fine," Doumeki insisted. He closed Watanuki's locker and ushered them towards the door. "I've already explained everything to grandfather."

If a jaw could have literally fallen to the floor in shock Watanuki's would have. "_What? _You _told_ him? Just how much of it?"

Doumeki blinked at him as they walked down the steps of the school's front door. "Everything." The blood that had left Watanuki's face returned in a rush. It was such a violent blush Doumeki thought it nearly looked like a sunburn. "Oh _god,_" Watanuki moaned. He covered his eyes with his hand.

Doumeki smirked, amused. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Don't say that so easily! How can you be sure? What if..!"

The taller teenager raised an eyebrow at the unfinished question. "What?"

"Your family!" Watanuki finally burst out. "What if they change their mind about... us? About everything?"

They rounded a corner and left view of the school. "Why would they?"

"You won't have a real family if you stay with me. No wife or children or anything! What if they want you to..." _What __if __they __push __me __aside,_ his unvoiced concern lingered after his question.

Doumeki tugged Watanuki into the shadow of a nearby alley and pushed him into the wall of a building. The shorter male felt pinned under those intense gold eyes that were suddenly locked on his own. "They won't." Arms wrapped around Watanuki tightly and Doumeki's chest was ridiculously solid and warm under his pale hands. "I won't let anyone push you aside. You are family now, Kimihiro."

Watanuki blushed. "Family?" He squeaked. "But family..."

"I love you."

Watanuki went from blushing to scowling in anger. "Don't say that so suddenly! It's only been less than two weeks! Don't say that just because you think it's what I want to hear! You insufferable-!"

"Kimihiro!" Doumeki said loudly over the yelling and sudden physical struggling. "I wouldn't!" He cupped Watanuki's jaw with his thumb and forefinger and held his gaze. "Intimacy with me would do nothing to protect you from spirits if I didn't love you." Watanuki's face was a picture of shock. "Grandfather explained that to me when we spoke earlier. I didn't know it either."

Ocean blue eyes searched his face earnestly for something, but whether it was honesty or insanity Doumeki didn't know. "How could you not know your own feelings before?"

He shrugged. "I never questioned the desire to protect you, I just did it. I only want you safe and happy."

Watanuki closed his eyes and pressed his palm against his forehead like he had a headache. "You really are crazy."

"Yeah," Doumeki agreed. "Come on. Let's go home." He released his hold on his partner and they started walking again.

A few steps down the sidewalk and Watanuki frowned and looked at the boy next to him. "You better not try to be romantic or anything. You're no good at it."

"Hm?" Doumeki replied.

"Tch!"

The temple was actually a little closer to their school than Watanuki's apartment was. They reached it much sooner than Watanuki's stomach could handle. The stress was surely going to make him vomit if he thought about it anymore, yet how could he not? It was going to happen in just a minute!

Watanuki's knees locked up and he dug his feet into the sidewalk when Doumeki moved to enter the gates of a huge Shinto temple. Watanuki had been on the temple grounds before, of course, because the public was always welcome to come during normal business hours and he had purchased the handmade paper spirit wards on multiple occasions.

It didn't mean that he wanted to go in _now, _though, since he knew there were _parents_ in there waiting to meet him and pass initial judgment on him and he had no idea what he was going to say or do...!

"Come on," Doumeki tugged on his arm. "You can't stand here at the gate all night."

"W-Wait!" Watanuki tried to stall. "I... what about..."

Doumeki gave him that _look_ again, the one that said _are __you __sure __you're __not __an __idiot?_ "What?"

"You know!" Watanuki blushed hotly.

Doumeki paused his insistent tugging for a moment. "Oh, that." He blinked, then shrugged. "We've got a few hours till six. We'll figure it out."

"But-!"

"Shizuka-kun!"

Watanuki and Doumeki turned to look and saw a woman rush towards them on the long pathway from the temple's main building. She was a pretty woman with long black hair that was tied up in a traditional fashion. Her elegant kimono was white and pink and patterned with blossoming sakura branches. She had the same yellow colored eyes that Doumeki did. A much older man with black hair streaked with white walked up to them at a rather sedate pace.

The woman ran up to Doumeki and threw her arms around his shoulders. "Oh, Shizuka-kun! I've been so worried!"

"Hello, mom," he replied, as usual with very little detectible emotion.

"Your grandfather told me you would be coming back today. I'm so glad you're home!"

Watanuki's hands wrung themselves nearly raw on the handle of his briefcase. He could see the woman's eyes were wet with unshed tears.

The woman moved away from Doumeki with one last beaming smile and looked to Watanuki. She grinned. "And there's your friend I was told about." Watanuki thought he'd have a heart attack when she grabbed his arms and leaned toward him. "Shizuka-kun never has friends visit. I am so glad to have you over."

"Eh?" Watanuki gaped.

Haruka finally made it up to them and smiled as well. He held a rolled cigarette in his right hand. "Kimihiro-kun, Shizuka-kun, welcome back." Doumeki's mother released Watanuki and stepped back to stand next to her father. Haruka gestured to himself and the woman next to him. "Kimihiro-kun, we're pleased to finally meet you. I am Haruka, Shizuka's grandfather, and this is his mother Akane."

Watanuki blushed and bowed deeply as he remembered his manners. "Pleased to meet you," he managed to get out without his voice shaking too much.

Haruka brought his cigarette up to his lips and took a drag from it. "You'll be staying for dinner, Kimihiro-kun?"

"He's cooking," Doumeki informed them.

Big blue eyes whipped around to stare at him. "I am?"

"I want gyoza and yakitori."

"Oh, that sounds lovely," Akane clapped her hands together even as Watanuki's jaw hung open and his body literally vibrated with his displeasure. "Please come with me, Kimihiro-kun, I will show you to the kitchen. I've already put cut watermelon in the refrigerator to chill." She grabbed an arm and started to escort him down the long path.

"Ah, y-yes, thank you, Doumeki-san."

"Oh please, just Akane, Kimihiro-kun!"

Doumeki looked at their retreating forms before turning his gaze on his grandfather. "You haven't told her yet?" He asked once they were out of ear shot.

Haruka smiled pleasantly. "Not yet. She knows that you've been gone for an important reason and that we would explain it later. She trusts my judgment concerning you. Your mother, however much she trusts me in these matters, will need visible proof regarding Kimihiro-kun's unique condition."

The grip he had on his briefcase tightened. "This won't be easy."

Haruka gestured toward the house and they started walking. "Nothing worth fighting for ever is." He took another drag from his cigarette. The smoke he blew out billowed up into the air in slow and lazy curls. "He's lit up like a roman candle, Shizuka-kun."

Doumeki watched the smoke as it spread thinner and thinner in the air. "What do you mean?"

"You can't see it clearly yet because that ability will take time for you to develop. In time you will see it, too. Your new partner's aura is the single brightest thing I have ever encountered. It is no wonder that every spirit is after him. He is likely the brightest soul the spirit world has ever seen." They finally entered the shrine proper and started making their way up the stairs. "Tell me, how well does he see the spirits after him?"

"He's mistaken human spirits for being alive on many occasions. He can touch them and interact with them as if they were normal people."

Haruka frowned and put his cigarette out in the ashtray next to the door. "It is a miracle then that you've been powerful enough to protect him. I'll need to refortify the wards on the temple's grounds, but they'll be strong enough until then."

Doumeki kicked off his shoes once he was in the entryway. "He's terrified."

Haruka slipped his shoes off as well. "Of the spirits?"

"Of everything. He's afraid you and mom will end up hating him. He's afraid of depending on me, he's afraid of what the bullies at school will do once they find out about us, he's afraid he'll end up dying all alone."

"He's told you all of this?"

"Most of it. It's easy enough to tell."

Haruka patted his grandson's back. "Don't worry, Shizuka-kun. We will protect him." Doumeki frowned despite the assurance. "You mustn't have fear as well, Shizuka-kun. Trust yourself and the decisions you make. You will require all of your strength to keep him safe."

"I will have faith," he affirmed, "And I will protect him. Thank you grandfather."

"Shizuka-kun!" His mother called from the kitchen. "Will you set the table please?"

"Coming," he called back.


	8. Chapter 8

Haruka marveled at the dinner that was set before him. The presentation had been perfect – beyond perfect. As an old man he'd had yakitori more times that he could remember in his life but never had it looked so good. One bite, all it took was _one __bite_ of that food and he was hooked.

A small part of him was already starting to feel guilty because he knew he would want Watanuki to cook every single night if he had his way. It was no wonder Doumeki was so content to stay with his peer without going home even once if the food was this good.

And the gyoza, oh, the _gyoza!_ Fantastic! And the vegetables! Miniature pieces of artwork! The food nearly belonged in an art gallery!

"Kimihiro-kun, where did you learn how to cook?" Akane asked in amazement. She marveled at the watermelon she'd originally chilled that Watanuki had taken the liberty to cut into adorable heart and star shapes.

Watanuki flushed a little at the praise. "Self-taught mostly, but I remember my father used to cook a lot when he was alive. I learned a lot from him."

"It's good," Haruka agreed. He savored another steamed dumpling.

"Not enough salt," Doumeki deadpanned.

Watanuki scowled just a little. "I didn't have my soy sauce on hand. You're already not used to the different taste in salt."

"Hm," Doumeki agreed. He bit another piece of meat off his yakitori skewer. "You need to make more."

Haruka raised an eyebrow curiously. "You brew your own soy sauce, Kimihiro-kun? I understand it's very difficult."

"Not much harder than brewing sake," Watanuki replied humbly.

"Grandfather brews his own sake," Akane smiled. "It's become quite famous."

Doumeki swallowed the last of the sake in his cup and held out his hand for a refill to Watanuki. The shorter teenager bit back the scathing remark he would have said about Doumeki's big black hole for a stomach had they not been in his family's company. He frowned and obliged the empty cup with more alcohol.

Yes, Haruka decided, Watanuki was moving in that night. He'd never have to endure another dinner made by his poor daughter. Thoughtful as the woman was she had always been a rather terrible cook.

They continued to make polite conversation during dinner. Watanuki and Doumeki were very careful to not mention anything about the past two weeks and Akane seemed content to wait for an explanation until the meal was over. Haruka savored every last morsel he'd been served and tried not to laugh at the dark look on Watanuki's face when Doumeki asked for seconds.

Living alone on government supplemental checks... Watanuki was probably a very frugal individual. There wouldn't have been any way his meager income could afford Doumeki's large appetite for longer than a couple of weeks. Haruka was immediately grateful he was still alive. He did not know how the two would have managed on their own without him as Akane would have been impossible to persuade alone.

Near the end of dinner Watanuki kept nervously checking the clock on the wall. Haruka silently watched him fidget more and more as the minute hand drew closer to the hour. The moment it struck six Watanuki nudged Doumeki as discreetly as he could and motioned checking the time on his wrist. Doumeki's eyes followed the movement then looked at the clock himself.

Haruka noticed the nearly missed sigh at the inconvenience of the time. "Shizuka-kun, what time did you wake up this morning?"

"About six o'clock," Doumeki answered without hesitation.

Haruka hummed to himself, his suspicions confirmed. "Every twelve hours, right?"

Watanuki squeaked a little and blushed hotly at the other end of the table.

"What's that?" Doumeki's mother asked curiously.

"It's all right, Kimihiro-kun," Haruka consoled as he ignored his daughter. "You're safe on the temple grounds. Nothing will harm you here."

"Really?" Watanuki asked in shock. "Even if we don't..."

"That's right."

"Father?" Akane asked, the only one at the table left out of the conversation loop.

Haruka stood up from the table. "Come, leave the dishes for now. We should go for a walk around the grounds. Kimihiro-kun, Shizuka, Akane." At the doorway Haruka looked back to his grandson. "Shizuka, grab your bow."

Doumeki raised an eyebrow but he did not question his grandfather. He snatched up his bow by his school supplies and slung it over his shoulder.

Watanuki gulped nervously because he _knew_ Doumeki's grandfather was going to explain to Akane just why her son had been gone for ten days without a single word sent home. Oh how he did not want to be there for it!

The temple grounds were gorgeous in the late afternoon light. Haruka was explaining to Watanuki how the shrine maidens would care for the plants and the lake that was in the very back of the compound surrounded by trees but the poor boy was too nervous to really absorb was he was being told. Haruka also explained that he took care of funerary services and would often perform the purification ceremonies at places such as sumo tournaments and the breaking of ground for new construction projects. The Doumeki temple was a very profitable one in these ways.

By the time they reached the back gate Watanuki's face was as pale as a ghost.

"Father," Akane finally spoke up. "I should like to know now why my son has been gone for so long."

Haruka lit a cigarette and breathed deeply on it. The amber color of the lit end flared slightly as it was burned away. "Yes, I suppose you should." He turned his dark yellow eyes to Watanuki as they stood near the entryway of the back gate. "Forgive me, Kimihiro-kun."

Doumeki felt his heart fall to his knees when his grandfather pushed Watanuki over the threshold of the gateway and onto the sidewalk on the other side. "Kimihiro!" He yelled.

Black billowing smoke swirled quickly around Watanuki's legs and snaked up his body. He was coughing instantly and unable to move. Doumeki made to run for him but his grandfather's hand on his arm was strong and held him back. "Wait, Shizuka!"

He turned accusatory eyes on his grandfather but the older man's gaze was already turned to his daughter.

"Dad?" Akane asked quietly, worriedly.

"Look, Akane-chan. Look at that boy. Do you see what is happening to him?"

Watanuki managed to gasp out a scream around the choke hold the smoke spirit had on him. His feet lifted off the ground a good foot and his hands clawed at his bruising neck.

"What's happening to him?" Akane asked in horror.

"Grandfather!" Doumeki yelled. He tugged at the hand still on his arm.

"Go ahead, Shizuka. Use your bow to kill the spirit."

"I don't have any arrows!"

Haruka puffed out a breath of smoke. "You won't need them." His eyes did not stray from the struggling boy before them.

Doumeki frowned but quickly drew the string of his bow back without an arrow docked in it as normal. Unsure how this would help he aimed where he would have liked to send an arrow and released his hold on the string.

Something gold and sparkling flew across the threshold and buried itself deeply in the dark smoke. Watanuki's feet dropped six inches. Satisfied with the first result Doumeki continued to fire until the smoke disappeared. Before anything else could find him Doumeki threw his bow to the ground and ran to Watanuki's side and lifted him in his arms. Watanuki half stumbled in Doumeki's grasp as they reentered the temple grounds proper, coughing and wheezing and trying to get his breath back.

Doumeki tucked Watanuki into his arms and glared at his grandfather. "Was that necessary?" The shorter male was still gasping and clinging to him tightly.

"I'm afraid it was, Shizuka-kun. If anything else less dangerous would have worked I would have never pushed him outside of the temple grounds."

Doumeki's mother had been very quiet until then. "Father?" She asked again.

Haruka looked at his daughter with an unreadable expression. "This boy is plagued by spirits, Akane-chan. They want nothing more than to consume him, kill him and take him away from this world. Your son has been protecting him this entire time. It is why he has been unable to come home."

"That smoke..." Akane began. "It was a spirit?"

"One of many," Doumeki bit out.

Akane brought her hands to her mouth and her eyes grew wet. "After all these years, I never believed...Oh father, I'm so sorry," Akane whispered. "All these years I've thought it was only for tradition, out of sentimental value. I never believed... how foolish you must have thought me to be!"

"There's nothing to be done about the past now, Akane-chan. What I want from you now is your support for this boy and your son's decisions."

Akane nodded vigorously. "Yes, of course. How has he... do his parents know? How do you keep him safe, Shizuka-kun?"

"I'm afraid he has no parents. He has been an orphan since he was six," Haruka started to explain.

"You poor boy!" Akane placed her hand on her chest and felt her heart beat as it started to calm down. "That's just terrible. Still, how does Shizuka keep you safe?"

"Er," Watanuki mumbled, face red with a blush. "I… uh…"

"Intimacy," Haruka explained with a smile.

Akane paused as the word soaked in. "I… what?"

"Intimacy," Doumeki repeated. This was certainly the strangest conversation he'd ever had with his mother. "It's the only ward strong enough to protect him."

"You… and him…" Akane stared, open mouth gaping like a fish.

"I think they make a handsome couple," Haruka grinned around his cigarette.

Akane's body started to lose its upright angle as she tipped backward. She was caught quickly by her father who promptly chuckled over her suddenly unconscious form. "She took it better than I expected."

"She fainted!" Watanuki gasped.

"I thought she'd have started screaming," Doumeki confessed. "She does talk about wanting grandkids a lot."

Watanuki tugged at his hair. "She's going to _hate_ me!"

"Nonsense," Haruka assured him. "Now, help me bring your mother back inside, Shizuka-kun. She'll wake up soon enough."

"Okay." He bent down and lifted up his mother by her legs while his grandfather carried her by hooking his elbows under her arms. Watanuki tripped over himself a little in his haste to open the doors for them once they made it back to the house.

"We'll set her down on the couch in the sitting room," Haruka said, giving Watanuki some idea on which doors to open next.

Akane woke minutes later, her head spinning and feeling like she'd just had the strangest of dreams. She could have sworn that her own father had just told her that her son was romantically involved with another boy. Considering her son's personality, it seemed unlikely to be true. And yet, she sat up slowly, breathing deeply, there they were – all three of them. Her father, her son, and her son's… spirit plagued boyfriend?

"So… this actually happened?" She heard herself say.

"Quite so," Haruka answered her. "Are you all right?"

"I…" She paused. Was she all right? She felt like she'd just been electrocuted, she was still so shaken up. She looked over to Watanuki and studied him. His face was downturned, his skin color ghastly pale. He wore thick glasses, yet she could still see the fear written plainly in his eyes behind them. It was hard to miss the purple and yellow colored bruise spreading across his neck and the torn, bloody skin of his hands. He had been bruise and blood free at dinner, of this she was certain. The harm he had encountered was very, very real. In fact, she was still in better shape than he was. "Yes. I'm all right."

"And this is okay?" Doumeki asked of his mother, one eyebrow raised in question.

She put a hand over her heart and felt it start to slow down for the second time that night. Her father was looking at her with one of _those_ looks, one of the ones that made her feel like an eight year old girl again that was being stubborn and petulant for no good reason. "Yes," She answered at last. "I… don't have much say in this anyway, do I? Yes. It's all right. I…" her voice broke off momentarily as she tried to gather her wits again. "I'm not the one injured, am I? Kimihiro-kun is."

Haruka looked over at the boys. "Are _you_ alright, Kimihiro-kun?"

"I'm fine," the boy replied, never mind the blood that dribbled down his shirt collar.

"Shizuka-kun's affections tonight should remove the bruises and any other injuries you sustained."

Watanuki blushed darkly. "I-I know. It always has before."

"I'm sorry," Akane felt the need to speak up. She may have been shortsighted, but she never wanted to be the direct cause of pain to anyone. "Shizuka, Kimihiro-kun. If you should be upset with anyone, be upset with me. I am the one that needed convincing, and my father knew the only way to do that. It's my fault that Kimihiro-kun was hurt tonight."

"No, really, it's fine," Watanuki insisted. "Most people need proof. I wouldn't have believed it myself if it wasn't my own problem."

"That's beside the point," Doumeki said lowly. "We would not lie about something like this. Harming you should not be required for proof."

"_Shizuka,"_ Watanuki growled. "I told you already, I'm fine! Knock it off already!"

"Hn."

Haruka smiled. "Kimihiro-kun, I think you should move in immediately."

Watanuki stood silent and stunned for a good half a minute. "Move in? Here?" He gasped.

"Really?" Akane asked. "You mean like… tonight?"

"Precisely," Haruka affirmed. "If you think this boy is hurt now, what do you supposed would happen to him if he went home tonight and off temple grounds?"

"Oh," Akane said, still feeling slow. "Oh!" She said again, realization dawning on her. If stepping off the temple grounds had done that then… then he'd be dead if he went somewhere else. Now there was something to sit heavy on her conscience. "My father is right," she said, realizing the logic behind the request. "Besides," she reasoned to herself out loud, "It's wrong for a young boy to live alone. We have plenty of room here."

"But my apartment-"

"Is tiny," Doumeki cut him off. "And the heat and air conditioning suck."

"But-!"

"Kimihiro-kun," Haruka started. "You can't live like this much longer. What would happen should one of you become ill and you are unable to be intimate? Shizuka cannot stay by your side every minute of the day for the rest of your lives."

"I," Watanuki began, but already the fight was leaving him. He clearly did not want to lose his independence so fully but he was left with little choice.

"Please," Doumeki said softly. He took Watanuki's bloody hands loosely in his own. "You will be safe here."

Watanuki dropped his head in defeat. "Okay."

Haruka smiled. "Good," he said. "We'll go to your apartment after school tomorrow and pack up your things."

Doumeki pressed a kiss to Watanuki's temple. "Come on. I'll bandage your hands. Then let's clean up the kitchen and go to bed."

"_You _clean the kitchen," Watanuki growled. "I still have to make our lunches for tomorrow."

"Fine."

"I'll help," Akane offered. She stood and ushered the boys into the kitchen, grabbing the first aid kit from the bathroom on the way.

Haruka smiled, please with the evening's results.


	9. Chapter 9

Watanuki was warm and surprisingly willing that night. He wrapped his arms around Doumeki's neck and locked his legs around his waist and moved, the friction hot and it made Doumeki's blood boil with need.

Perhaps it was a knee-jerk reaction after the scare they had that night. It certainly wasn't necessary for them to be intimate when Watanuki was on the temple grounds, but for the life of him once they were alone in his room Doumeki couldn't keep his hands off the shorter male. His tongue on Watanuki's bruised neck elicited such noises and moans of desire he couldn't have held back if he wanted to.

Why would he want to, after all? His touch healed the wounds that covered his partner's body and the pleasure their joining created made him crave it more and more. Seeing the open, honest and arousing expression on Watanuki's face every time he entered the shorter teen was like steroids for Doumeki's ego.

Watanuki had curled into Doumeki's arms when they were done all on his own, much to Doumeki's surprise. The taller teen rested his chin on the top of his partner's head and breathed in the smell of shampoo and spices from their dinner. He also breathed in a sigh of relief.

They slept well that night.

Waking up, however, was very, very strange for Watanuki. It was the first time he'd ever slept in a different place since his parents had died. The first thing his sleep addled brain thought to do when he awoke was panic. The ceiling above him wasn't his, the bedding smelled different and the light came into the room at all the wrong angles.

Then Doumeki was over him and bearing down into him, kissing him and groping and Watanuki suddenly realized that the taller male was a still a little damp from a shower and his kiss tasted like mint toothpaste. He hadn't even heard the other wake up and leave the room to bathe for the day.

Granted, it had been nearly two weeks since the last time he'd been nearly consumed by a malicious spirit. Watanuki had not even paid attention to how much energy was drained from him each time. His body suddenly felt like it used to just a month ago – tired and sore and just a little stretched. It only figured that making love that morning reduced those terrible aches to almost nothing.

It was just plain _surreal_ to see breakfast served by Doumeki's mother that morning. There was food, food he hadn't cooked himself, served hot and ready to eat.

Akane smiled at his mild state of surprise and poured him a glass of orange juice. She'd had all night to absorb what happened and was really starting to come to terms with it. Cooking breakfast felt normal, and it would help serve as an apology for the trouble she'd caused. "Please eat, Kimihiro-kun. I've prepared oatmeal, toast and scrambled eggs."

"A western breakfast," he noted out loud.

Akane grinned. "I hope you like it."

Doumeki sat down and started eating without preamble. Watanuki sat down as well and took note of how quickly Doumeki was inhaling the food. It was unusual for him to eat like that, wasn't it? While he always ate anything Watanuki had put in front of him he usually ate slowly, almost reverently at times.

Watanuki took a bite of the eggs on the plate in front of him. Doumeki's gold colored eyes flicked up to look at him as the first bite went in and kept staring.

Watanuki winced very hard on the inside but smiled quite valiantly on the outside. "It's good!" He felt obligated to say.

Granted, the eggs weren't cooked all of the way and he was certain he'd just bitten down on a piece of egg shell, but he was far too polite to ever say so. The look Doumeki gave him spoke volumes. _See.__This __is __why __you __have __to __cook._

He sighed. Looked like he would have to start getting up earlier to beat Akane to the kitchen every morning.

Watanuki was also too polite to laugh when Haruka sat down to eat and very visibly winced when he took a bite of food. The moment his daughter left the kitchen Haruka drank the glass of orange juice in front of himself in one gulp and threw his eggs and toast in the garbage can.

"I want tamagoyaki for breakfast tomorrow," Doumeki told him bluntly.

"I am not a personal chef!" Watanuki growled.

"And Umeboshi," Haruka added.

Watanuki gaped for a moment. No _wonder _Doumeki acted the way he did, he clearly learned it from his grandfather. Still, though, Haruka was an adult and Watanuki was living in his house, and even if it was only the first morning he couldn't just say _no. _He'd feel like a leech if he refused Haruka's request to cook. He blushed and very quickly cleaned up his plate. "Uh, umeboshi. Right."

. . . . . . . . .

Doumeki frowned as he sat down at the table with his lunch box in hand. Still Watanuki sat on his own under the sad looking sakura tree and ate his lunch in isolation. They already walked to and from school together, lived together and waited for each other during after school activities, just _what_ was so conspicuous about eating lunch together?

"Wow, Doumeki-kun, did you take your girlfriend on a hot date last night?"

"...What?" Doumeki asked. He tore his gaze away from Watanuki and looked at the student next to him.

"Your lunch!" The boy exclaimed. "It's a masterpiece! There's also more hearts in it than ever before!"

Doumeki looked at the lunch he'd just opened. Huh, well what did he know, it _did_ have more hearts in it than before. Watanuki had also put in all of his favorites, including inarizushi, octopus shaped sausages, heart shaped balls of rice and all of the vegetables were shaped like sakura flowers. It truly was an awe-inspiring lunch. "Hm," he hummed thoughtfully.

"So, Doumeki-kun, just who _is _this girl?" The boy asked.

The rest of the table started to pick up with the question. They'd been getting more persistent lately. "I never said I had a girlfriend," Doumeki said before he shoved a piece of steamed edamame in his mouth.

One of the girls giggled. "Doumeki-sempai, we know your _mom_ didn't make that lunch for you! And you can't buy a lunch like that from a convenience store! Come on, who is she? Is she from a different school?" The girl suddenly gasped, a look of bright speculation in her eyes. "Is she a college student?"

One of the other girls nodded at the guess. "Aah, Doumeki-kun would only attract the best of girls! She's probably an athlete, or a model!"

"Maybe she's the daughter of a big CEO?" Someone else suggested.

Doumeki rolled his eyes and ate a big piece of rice. This was getting ridiculous.

"Yeah!" Someone else exclaimed. "She would be, wouldn't she? She probably plays tennis, or golf! Rich people play those sports often, don't they?"

"Or a miko!" A different boy said enthusiastically. "Doumeki-kun lives at the big shrine, right? There's _tons_ of shrine maidens there! I'll bet that's who his girlfriend is!"

"Oh, that would explain why we haven't seen her!" One of the girls agreed.

_Kami-sama,__someone __make __them __stop._ Doumeki shoveled the rest of the food in as quickly as he could. This conversation about a mythical girlfriend that wasn't actually a girl or any of the things his peers suggested was downright stupid. He packed up his lunch and headed inside toward the school doors.

"Waah~! Doumeki-kun is so cruel! He won't say anything about her!"

"Maybe he needs to keep her identity a secret? To protect her?"

Doumeki clenched his hand into a tight fist when someone else started to once again agree with the ridiculous speculations. He entered the hallway and lost the voices of the students as the doors blessedly closed behind him. He'd have to tell Watanuki to go easy on the hearts and flowers for his lunches from now on.

Not that he wanted to, of course. He _liked _his cute lunches. It was one of the biggest ways Watanuki displayed his actual affection for Doumeki. He sighed. This was getting hard to keep a secret. He didn't like hiding from things, but he would try for as long as possible, for Watanuki's sake.

. . . . . . . .

He did his best that day to ignore the shadow of uneasiness at the thought that he'd be packing up his belongings after school. How were they even going to carry everything over? Would they expect him to want to bring along his few pieces of furniture, too? The Doumeki temple had enough furniture and then some – he didn't really need to bring along his small table and miserable clothes dresser. What about his kitchen utensils? He didn't have the best quality knives and cookware, but they were clean and usable. Wouldn't Doumeki's family have better cooking supplies anyway? What would he do with the things to throw away?

What would they do with the apartment? The government paid for everything for him. If he informed the apartment owner that he was moving out the government would notice. Would they look for him? Would they stop putting the small amount of money in his bank account like they did every month? Would they make the Doumeki family sign adoption papers in order to live legally at their residence?

Watanuki's head spun with his questions. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He was still a bit frightened at the prospect of such a big change in his life.

After school they went straight back to the temple. Haruka and Akane were both waiting for them at the entrance. Both of them were wearing a jinbei set of long shorts and the tied shirt. While Haruka's jinbei set was a plain blue color Akane's was white with patterns of peach blossoms. "Oh!" Watanuki said aloud. He had not expected to see them wear clothing outside of the traditional monk robes and summer yukata.

Doumeki's mother smiled. "We're dressed to help you move, Kimihiro-kun! Dad and I collected empty boxes today and packing tape." Her hair was up in a simple pony-tail and it made her look so oddly young Watanuki had to remind himself to not stare for too long.

"You did?"

"Best get in the truck, you two," Haruka prompted.

"You have a truck?" Watanuki gasped. Vehicles were expensive and he didn't know anyone that owned one.

"Of course," Haruka smiled. "We go through a lot of supplies here at the temple. We have a truck for pickups and a smaller car for when we have to go to Tokyo or Osaka for ceremonies."

Watanuki's mind boggled at having two cars. "Oh."

"Come on," Doumeki put a hand on the small of Watanuki's back and gently guided him toward the garage that was hidden at the far end of the property. "There's not much to move. We should be able to finish quickly."

Finish quickly. Finish before six, he meant. They only had three hours before then. "I don't think we can pack everything and move in three hours."

"We're not in a hurry," Haruka said mildly. "There's always tomorrow."

Or he and Doumeki could do it in the bathroom while Doumeki's mother and grandfather continued to pack in the living room, but it would be a cold day in hell before Watanuki would submit to such an embarrassing scenario as _that._

The ride was, as expected, very short. Kimihiro's apartment was only a few blocks away from the temple. They could have walked if there wouldn't have been any heavy boxes to carry by hand.

Once finally _in_ the apartment Haruka found himself standing in the doorway in a mild state of shock. He _knew_ his grandson wasn't one to exaggerate on things. After this though he felt he should start taking _everything_ Shizuka said at face value. Even the ridiculous things. If Shizuka suddenly said pigs were flying above them Haruka was suddenly very keen to believe him right away.

Doumeki had been so very right. Watanuki's apartment was _tiny._ Very tiny. The entire place, bathroom and bedroom included, was smaller than the sitting room at the temple. Haruka wondered how a person could live in such a small space without going stir-crazy.

The place was spotlessly clean, even if the hardware of the kitchen cabinets were in a bit of disrepair and there were cracks in the ancient drywall. The government did not afford Watanuki much.

"Where do you want to start?" Doumeki's mother asked him as she gazed at the kitchen.

"I'm not sure," Watanuki despaired. "The bedroom, I guess. We can start on my clothes and school supplies. I have some books on a bookshelf, and the bathroom supplies I suppose."

"Sounds good," Haruka agreed. "We have more boxes than we will need. Go ahead and start packing everything. If there's anything you don't want we can toss it later. You can look through everything at your leisure at the temple." Not that there was much _to _toss. Watanuki had no frivolities or trinkets of any kind in his apartment. It was all rather spartan in decoration.

"Okay," Watanuki said quietly. He walked into his bedroom without looking behind him and surveyed the small room.

Most of his life had been spent here. He managed to raise himself with no supervision. While the old land lady had been sweet and even remembered to give him a birthday cake every year she wasn't there often and had already died years ago.

Kimihiro had not enjoyed telling her soul that it was time for her to move on after her heart attack.

Doumeki stood next to him and studied his face as Watanuki stared a little blankly at the room. "Kimihiro," he said softly.

Watanuki's face flinched a little, nearly unnoticeable. "What?" He asked. His question lacked its usual heat.

"Take your time," Doumeki told him.

Dark blue eyes turned and searched his face. Watanuki looked like he had just lost a large battle at a great personal cost. Finally he sighed. His gaze moved away and stared forlornly at the floor. "All right."

Doumeki slipped an arm around his waist and pressed his lips to his partner's forehead. Watanuki closed his eyes and didn't even try to pull away.


	10. Chapter 10

"Oh, are those your parents, Kimihiro-kun?"

Watanuki nearly jumped out of his skin. He'd been staring at the picture in his hands intently and had not heard Doumeki's mother come up behind him. "Ah!" He exclaimed with surprise. "Akane-san!"

The woman smiled and sat down next to him.

The picture in his hands had a fine coating of dust on it. This particular photo was the only one of his parents that had been framed. After the accident he'd lost most of his family's possessions, along with nearly all of the framed family portraits. This was one of the few that remained and he had never been able to afford more frames. His thumb moved aside the dust that covered the faces of his mother and father. "Yes, those are my parents," he confirmed.

Akane studied the faded colors of the photograph. "You look nothing like your father, Kimihiro-kun! I can see you have your mother's nose, though."

Watanuki stared at the image a moment longer before he set it down and rummaged through his box of photos. "I was always told I look like my great grandfather, Mr. Reed." His hands finally found an envelope stuffed with images. The yellow of the paper was dark with age. "Here, see?" He gently extracted one of the photos and showed it to Doumeki's mother. It was a black and white photo that had been taken with a very old camera but the details were sharp and clear.

The face of the smiling man did indeed look like Watanuki. Twinkling eyes were set behind a small set of spectacles and his long black hair was pulled back and tied at the nape of his neck. Akane studied the image with interest. "Those are Chinese robes. Was your family from China?"

"On my father's side," Watanuki replied. "I think I still have some cousins over in Shanghai, but after the accident no one knew where to contact them or what their names were so the government never looked for them. I'm sure I would be in China if someone there knew."

"Not necessarily."

Watanuki looked up as Haruka entered the room. "What? Why is that?"

"Even with family emigration is difficult. The paper-work to make you a citizen in China would have been a nightmare, it was far easier for you to be granted emancipation. It would have taken the government years to clear the paperwork."

"Years?" He asked flabbergasted.

Haruka kneeled on the ground next to them and picked up the discarded picture. Watanuki's parents were a handsome couple. His father had a head of thick auburn hair and dark brown eyes. He was smiling in the picture with one arm around his wife. He was holding a ceremonial katana that was sheathed in an ornate scabbard in his other hand. He wore a set of Chinese clothing that was smartly tailored to his body's frame.

His mother was a beautiful woman with sandy brown hair and smiling green eyes. She was holding a small infant in her arms as she posed for the picture, her pink and white kimono flowing in an invisible breeze. "Looks like you had wonderful parents, Kimihiro-kun."

Watanuki blushed and took the frame back when it was offered to him. He held it close to his chest with one arm as he flipped through other pictures. "I don't remember much of them. My mother's name was Sakura, I remember that, and my father's name was Li." He looked back at the image again. "My mother always smelled like sakura flowers. I only really remember my mother laughing once when I confessed that I thought she was named Sakura because of what she smelled like."

Akane giggled at the mental image. "How old were you then?"

Watanuki's forehead wrinkled as he puzzled over the question. "Four, I think."

"Your father practiced kendo?" Haruka asked.

"He called it Jian Dao." He scrutinized the sword in the picture. "He left some scrolls about it behind, but I don't remember what happened to his swords."

"A pity," Haruka sighed. "That's a handsome weapon."

"Do you have anything else from them?" Akane asked as she looked through the other black and white pictures.

Watanuki set the photos aside and reached into the container to pull out a small velvet box. He offered it to Doumeki's mother. "I have their wedding rings."

Akane took the box and opened it. She was astonished to see two beautiful bands of gold richly decorated with engravings and diamonds placed evenly around the rings. One was slightly thicker than the other. "They're lovely!" She declared.

Haruka's face became neutral when his daughter handed him the box. Something felt cold inside of his chest.

"I only have them because the priest that handled the funeral removed them from the bodies and gave them to me directly. If the rings had been given to the government people that set up my apartment and handled my parents' affairs I'm sure I would have lost those, too."

Yes, _that_ was why his chest felt so cold. He recognized those rings. Haruka swallowed and handed the box back. Watanuki did not need to know right then that he had been the one to save those rings. He had only been told briefly about the small boy's plight when the bodies had been brought to the shrine but there was not much he could have done at the time. He should have paid more attention. "They are lovely indeed," he agreed with his daughter.

Watanuki took the box back and snapped it closed. He set it next to his side and took out more envelopes. "I really should get photo albums for all of these. They'll keep getting faded and ruined if I don't preserve them."

"I'll pick up some albums for you while I'm out tomorrow," Akane offered.

"A-Ah, no! I couldn't ask you to, Akane-san!"

The woman chuckled. "Don't be silly, Kimihiro-kun. It's no trouble. I do want a real kaiseki dinner tomorrow night though!"

Watanuki's face became a picture of horror. "Waah! A kaiseki dinner? I don't have any seasonal ingredients right now! I'll have to go to the store and start pickling things _tonight!_"

"Oh, speaking of, you should start on your next batch of soy sauce," Haruka mused. The animated fit that followed the statement was both hilarious and thoroughly enjoyed. Haruka smiled as he looked away from Watanuki's wailing form and looked to the bottom of the box that all of the pictures had been placed in for the move. At the very bottom was a large white envelope that had what appeared to be a ring of brown coffee stains on the top. He lifted the package with curiosity and inspected it.

Watanuki's flailing grew suddenly quiet.

"Oh, what's in here?" Haruka asked at the sudden pause.

Watanuki's face was drained of color. "I-I... it's the photos from... the accident." His face flushed and he looked away. "I haven't been able to look at them yet."

Haruka looked at the package in his hands, his face inscrutable. "May I hold on to these for a while?"

Watanuki showed a silent shock at the question but acquiesced. "O-Okay."

. . . . . . . .

Doumeki was careful to open his lunch box that day. He didn't want any more surprise encounters with his peers in response to another cute lunch. He popped the lid off the box and peaked in through the crack.

Indeed. It was even worse. Not only was his onigiri shaped like hearts, but Watanuki had even dyed the stuffed balls a pinkish red color. Doumeki sniffed at the rice. Yes, his suspicion was correct. The food had been colored with beet juice.

Pieces of carrots, cucumbers and melons were cut in the shape of hearts, crescent moons and stars and scattered around the meal like confetti.

Doumeki snapped his lunch box closed and stared at Watanuki across the lunch yard. The silly boy was still sitting alone underneath the same tree he always ate at. Determined, Doumeki stood up and walked directly over to other. When his shadow fell over Watanuki's vision dark blue eyes snapped up and glared at him. "_What_ are you doing over here?" Watanuki hissed.

"It's getting really obvious, Kimihiro."

Watanuki bounced up so quickly to stand one would have thought his legs were made of springs. "Don't use my name like that _here!_" He screeched. "I told you to leave me alone during lunch!" He gestured his arms out in a shooing motion that Doumeki ignored. "Just what is so obvious, anyway!"

Damn that _I'm __looking __at __an __idiot_ face. It made Watanuki grind his teeth and clench his fists because he felt the insane urge to punch something, anything, that had Doumeki's _dumb _look. Namely Doumeki himself.

"It's obvious that you love me."

Watanuki, predictably, threw a fit. "Don't say such ridiculous things! And just what is _wrong_ with you? Are you a Neanderthal? Stop saying such things at school!"

Doumeki shoved a finger in his ear. Watanuki was really noisy when he was angry. "It's true. You're putting more hearts in my lunches."

"I am not! Who'd make heart-shaped things for you, anyway?"

Doumeki opened his lunch and showed the contents to flailing teenager. "See? They're even red this time."

A bright blush spread across his face. "I-It's just leftovers!" He panicked.

Doumeki raised a single eyebrow in question. No one he knew ever had such food as leftovers.

"The shrine maidens asked for a snack yesterday! They requested heart shaped onigiri, okay?"

He closed the lid on his lunch and went over the past week in his head. He had a distinct memory of leaving a plate of Watanuki's onigiri for himself in the staff room's refrigerator at the shrine a few days ago. Normally the maidens left his food alone when it was in there, but that time Watanuki had made cute shapes of his snack food. It was the first time Doumeki had left cute food in the staff fridge. It was also the first time it had ever been eaten by someone else. "They ate my snacks I left in the fridge the last time you made them shaped like this. You made them for me in the first place."

Watanuki went to argue but his voice came out as a rather strangled squeak.

"See?" Doumeki prompted. "You do love me."

"Arrogant oaf," Watanuki mumbled. "Jumping to conclusions like that." His protest lacked its normal heat. "Fine, whatever. I like you. Can I eat in peace now?"

The taller student looked back at the other students still milling around the tables. "They're asking questions."

"... What?"

Doumeki raised an eyebrow again. "About the food."

Watanuki looked puzzled for a moment before he managed to figure out what Doumeki was talking about. When he did his face colored again. "Oh, oh no!" He grabbed the collar of Doumeki's shirt in his hands. "You haven't said anything, have you? My life will be over if they find out! Over!"

He really was such a drama queen. "No, not yet."

"What, what do you mean not yet? Shizuka, you big jerk!"

Doumeki smirked. "I want chazuke and yakizakana for lunch tomorrow."

"I hate you so much! Why am I cursed with the likes of you, why?" Watanuki wailed. The smirk never left Doumeki's face.

. . . . . . . . .

Haruka sat at the table in his kitchen and looked at the seemingly innocent white envelope that was stuffed with previously unseen images at hand. He wondered just how gruesome the accident pictures were. The boys were at school so there was no worry in the back of his mind of Watanuki accidentally seeing them while he looked through the package.

Someone needed to, though. There might be something important in those photos that Watanuki had never had the courage to look for.

Akane poured herself a cup of tea at the counter. "Are you going to look at those?" She asked her father.

"Hm," Haruka hummed. "Yes, I think so." He picked up the package and flicked open the flap at the top. There was a small stack of images that he pulled out. Strands of negative film strips were stuck in between the pages. He gently plucked them out and started to sort through the pictures.

Watanuki's parents had been driving a small black sedan. There was debris everywhere. The first few pictures showed the driver and passenger seats in the front covered in broken glass. The left side doors had been ripped completely off. Blood patterned the seats and debris in a sickening way.

Haruka frowned as he continued to the next images. There was something wrong here, but what was it? He scrutinized the images one at a time.

Strange. None of the pictures showed another car that caused the impact. In fact, there didn't appear to be anything the vehicle had run in to. So why was the front of the car smashed so thoroughly the very engine had fallen out and was stuck under the tires?

Haruka flipped to another image and nearly felt his heart stop. "Oh no."

Akane rushed to his side and peered over his shoulder. It took her a moment to gather what she was looking at. "Why... why is there a pattern like that on the hood? It's... like they were hit with curved pieces of metal."

"It's not just the car," Haruka said, his mouth dry. "Look. Those marks are on the pavement as well."

Grooves inches deep swirled like a lazy river around the vehicle's front end. "How? What would cause that?"

"... Something awful." Haruka set the pictures down with shaking hands and stood up. "I didn't know it was this bad."

"What do you mean?"

Haruka pointed to what appeared to be a fine coating of white dust on a picture of the interior seats. "The airbags did not expand when their vehicle was impacted. This dust-like substance should only be from that, yet it's not. Those swirled patterns indicate something attacked them while they were driving." He searched for another image that presented them with a close-up of the chalk like substance inside the car. Akane gasped when she saw what could only be what looked like calligraphic marks in the dust. "This also shows us that Kimihiro-kun's parents fought back. They were not ordinary people."

"Then... what do you think?"

Haruka sighed. "Kimihiro-kun is in danger right now. I know this pattern. I hoped I would never see it. This is not an ordinary spirit. People have often referred to these creatures as gods in ancient lore." He looked at his daughter. "It was after Kimihiro all this time. Maybe his parents, too. I believe his parents sacrificed themselves to protect him. Now that he needs Shizuka so much it seems to indicate that their protection is starting to wear off." He looked back again at the photographs. "I know the characters of that spell well."

"You mean then, that it could come back?"

"It will come back. It may already be watching him."

Just then the phone rang. Akane jumped, startled, then rushed over to the ringing device. "Hello, Doumeki residence?" This was the personal line that was ringing and not the general phone for the shrine itself. Anyone calling that number was looking specifically for one of them.

Akane's face paled. "What? Where? How?"

Haruka stuffed the pictures back in the envelope but did not remove his eyes from his daughter.

"What about the other boy, Kimihiro-kun, what happened? Is he all right?"

He shoved the chair back up to the table loudly and walked up to her quickly.

Akane looked stricken. "No, don't move them anywhere! We'll be right there!" She hung up the phone and turned to her father. "The boys have been injured at school! They said a bookcase fell on Shizuka-kun! And Kimihiro-kun..." Her eyes started to grow wet. "They couldn't tell me what happened, just that he was bleeding!"

Haruka grabbed the keys from the hook on the wall. "Come on, we're taking the car. Hurry."


	11. Chapter 11

Something was different as Doumeki walked back to class after lunch. He couldn't pin point what it was exactly, just something felt... off. He tried to shrug off the feeling as he grabbed supplies from his locker and walked back to class.

The hallway was filled with whispers that chittered around his ears like flies. Normally Doumeki ignored these. They never concerned him or anyone else he was interested in and they usually turned out to be baseless rumors anyway. A few steps closer to the classroom and Doumeki felt his neck prickle up in the uneasy feeling that he was being stared at. He looked around at the other students.

Weird. They _were_ staring at him. Quite openly, too.

He caught the gaze of a random girl in the hallway. "Do I have something on my face?"

The girl looked startled behind her hand. She had been in the middle of whispering something to another girl not so discreetly behind her fingers. "D-Doumeki-kun! No, you don't have-"

"Were you in a fight with Watanuki?" The other girl demanded quite suddenly. She waited for an answer with baited breath.

Uh oh. "No." He narrowed his eyes because the girl had only used Watanuki's last name without any suffixes. They certainly weren't friends, so it should follow that she should attach a 'san' or a 'kun' after his name. It was rude not to unless they were on friendly terms.

"But he was yelling at you so loudly!" The first girl said back. "Why was he yelling at you? He wasn't giving you a hard time, was he? He's a bit weird, everyone says."

"We weren't fighting," Doumeki insisted. "Leave him alone." He snapped his gaze away from the girls after a stern look and continued on.

"Actually, Watanuki was yelling after Doumeki-kun showed him a lunch box. I saw it!" Someone else said from the other side of the hallway.

"Why would he do that?" An unknown voice asked.

"Oooh~! What if Watanuki made a lunch for Doumeki-sempai, as a confession maybe? And Doumeki-sempai refused him!"

"No!" A gasp. "Doumeki-kun has that wonderful girlfriend that makes him lunches every day. What a dumb thing to do!"

Oh god. The rumors were getting worse. Where did they come up with these stupid ideas? Had they not even listened to a word he just said? Doumeki's shoulders were tense when he entered the classroom.

Angry blue eyes were blazing and glaring at him when he entered. "I. Hate. You," Watanuki growled.

Doumeki blinked. "I didn't tell them anything."

"You didn't have to, dumb ass!"

"They have the story completely mixed up. They think I have a girlfriend, but you're not a girl."

Watanuki flailed. "That's not even the worst part, jerk! They think-!"

"Oh, they're fighting again!" Someone said from out in the hall. There had not been any other students in the classroom yet.

The color drained from Watanuki's face as others came in and heard his shouts. Doumeki stepped forward and directed Watanuki to his seat before they could be surrounded by people. Just in time, too, as the teacher had come in and barked at everyone to sit down.

The eyes of their peers did not leave them alone the rest of class.

. . . . . . . . .

Watanuki was quietly mumbling curses to himself as he angrily flipped through the pages of a history book. Sixth period World History class was being held in the library that day for a research assignment, so all of the students were busy researching and speaking softly amongst themselves.

He could still feel the stares of everyone on his back. He frowned and snarled quietly – _quietly!_ - he might add, despite the raised eyebrow look that Doumeki was shooting his way at the noise. The idiot just _had _to come up to him at lunch that day and rile him up. After the rumors had started to fly the so far favorite theory the students had seemed to jump on was that he was acting like some love-struck school girl that wanted to confess to Doumeki his undying feelings of love and devotion by making him lunch.

Stupid. Just the thought of acting like that made his skin crawl. Watanuki was _not_ some love-struck school girl, and he most certainly would _not _have made a spectacle of himself by trying to confess to someone like _that._ And to Doumeki of all people! What did they think he was, eight years old?

Doumeki watched as Watanuki fumed at the other end of the book case. He did feel bad about the whole thing, of course. He didn't want Watanuki to be ridiculed at all, but what could he do? He kind of doubted setting the record straight with everyone would actually change anything. In fact, it would probably even make it worse. There had been blood spilled before over fights for his attention at school. He would never understand girls.

The whispering around them was growing louder and Doumeki felt his patience wearing thin with everyone else. The book in his hands did nothing to distract him or pull him back to studying.

There was movement out of the corner of his eye, but there was something unnatural about it. Doumeki shifted his eyes and looked passed Watanuki at the end of the book case. Something shifted in Watanuki's shadow. Was that...?

His heart leaped into his throat and he suddenly couldn't swallow because there was a slimy-wispy tentacle like arm slithering around the case. It slid up in a slow and sluggish manner along the spines of the books on the lower shelves. It was getting closer and closer to the blue eyed student. A moment later and the bookcase began to tip. "Kimihiro!"

Watanuki looked over at him and scowled. "What?"

Another long and searching arm joined the first and looked ready to snap out at him. Doumeki dropped the book in his hand and lunged for Watanuki. Everything after that happened quite quickly. Doumeki's body rocketed into Watanuki's, which sent them flying to the ground. Doumeki felt something _push _at the space around him in a way he'd never felt before, but if the reaction of the arms was anything to go by his aura was clearly not a welcome presence.

As they were landing one of the arms snapped in anger and the bookcase went toppling over. The arm that had been in Watanuki's shadow extended toward him as though to grab him, but Doumeki's aura must have done something. The moment the tentacle went to wrap around Watanuki's waist it snapped back as though it had been burned and left a large, bloody gash in the shorter boy's right side. Watanuki cried out in pain but was nearly immediately muffled by Doumeki's body landing on him.

Doumeki grunted loudly in both shock and pain as the bookcase landed on his legs. The books fell everywhere and were heavy on his trapped body.

"Shizuka!" Watanuki yelled.

"... Ow," Doumeki winced.

The library exploded with the noise of students that started to surround them. People started to pull books off of them just so they could reach the bookshelf to lift it up again. Doumeki struggled to lift himself up by his arms and give the person beneath him some breathing room. Watanuki's eyes were shut tightly and his face was in a grimace of agony. Doumeki looked to where Watanuki was holding one of his hands over the wound in his side.

The blood was literally gushing onto the floor. Doumeki covered one of his hands on the wound as well, hoping to stem the flow. His muscles quivered with exertion and his legs screamed at him. His left thigh bone felt like it was broken.

He felt so helpless as the blood slipped through his fingers like running water. The carpet was growing redder and redder under them. "Kimihiro," he asked worriedly. How had a spirit come so close? Watanuki had not seen or heard a single spirit since they started being intimate. "Kimihiro, say something!" He demanded.

Blue eyes opened just slightly and looked at him, the color in the irises dark and heavy. "What happened?"

"You didn't see it?" Doumeki asked.

"... See what?"

His aching and sore muscles felt cold and there was a pit of dread in his stomach. "You didn't see it?"

Watanuki shook his head, his body trembling. "What are you talking about?"

"The spirit that knocked over the bookcase and injured you," Doumeki explained.

Watanuki's face, if possible, became even paler. "No!"

Doumeki looked to the other side of the library. There was still something sinister twisting in the shadows.

"Doumeki-kun! Watanuki! Are you both all right?" One of the students helping to remove the books asked.

"He's bleeding," Doumeki said. "Someone get the nurse."

"Aah! It's all over the floor!" Someone shrieked, finally having noticed the growing pool of red around Watanuki. Doumeki's hand was covered with blood.

"Doumeki-kun, don't touch it! What if he has a disease, you could get it too!"

"Get the nurse!" Doumeki nearly yelled.

One of the girls gasped in fright but at least someone stood up and ran down the hall toward the nurse's office.

"Shizuka," Watanuki gasped. "I'm cold."

Damn it all. Doumeki didn't care what anyone else would say. This was an unnatural wound inflicted by a spirit from the other world. Bandages were only going to do so much to help him. Doumeki leaned down and kissed the boy beneath him, long and gentle and desperate.

Someone shrieked at the sight of it. "They weren't fighting! They're _dating!"_

"No way! Doumeki-kun is gay? But Watanuki is so weird!"

Doumeki pulled away. A tear had started to slip down Watanuki's ghostly white cheek. Doumeki carefully wiped it away with his still clean hand. He did notice with some relief the blood flow started to diminish. "I'm sorry," he whispered in Watanuki's ear.

Another tear escaped a closed blue eye.

"Doumeki-kun, what are you _doing_ with him?"

Watanuki shivered violently with the question. The presence suddenly over them was cold and menacing. Doumeki glared at the girl that was leaning over them, but there was a blank look in her unnaturally orange eyes that did not seemed fazed. "He'll just stain your pureness, Doumeki-kun. You should leave him before that."

Watanuki coughed. He moved a hand to his mouth and pinched his nose because the stench coming from the girl was overwhelming.

"What's wrong with her?" Doumeki asked.

The library was suddenly still and no one else was moving aside from them. "She's possessed," Watanuki gasped around his coughing.

Doumeki kept his body low over Watanuki and did his best to shield him. "Stay away from him," he looked up at the girl.

Empty orange eyes looked for Watanuki's face that they could not see. "He'll grow bored of you eventually, Watanuki. Everyone leaves you in the end."

"Don't listen to her," Doumeki pressed. "Don't listen to anything she says."

"Shizuka..."

"I love you," Doumeki affirmed.

The girl scoffed. "Love." Her face twisted in anger. "Your love will be eaten, along with the rest of you."

Doumeki looked around himself for something to use. Mostly all he could see were books and motionless people. It was strange looking at the world as if it had been paused by a remote.

There. One of his fellow archery club members was poised just a couple of feet from them, frozen in the action of lifting a book from Doumeki's right side. His bow had been dropped on the floor just inside of Doumeki's reach. He couldn't have asked for better luck if he tried.

Doumeki grunted again in pain as he shifted his body and snatched the bow up in his right hand. Slowly, painfully so, he lifted himself up to his right knee, his left leg still mostly trapped under the bookshelf. This would be a difficult shot, but he had no choice.

There was a hiss as loud as a boiler and the girl backed up a pace. Doumeki felt his vision blur and the world swam before his eyes as he pulled on his right leg for better leverage. After another tug the shelf shifted slightly further down his leg and pinned his shin instead, but at least he could sit upright. He lifted the bow in his bloody hand and pulled back the string, grateful that he knew about spirit arrows now.

"No, Shizuka! Don't! It's not her fault, don't hurt her!" Watanuki pleaded beneath him.

"I am going to protect you."

The girl hissed at him, her teeth suddenly growing fangs.

"She can't help it, she's possessed! Don't hurt her!"

Doumeki aimed and released his arrow into the shadowy mist at the corner of the library.

The slimy arms from before flew out in a frenzy and the girl screamed before she collapsed on the floor. Books flapped open and paper flew about overhead. Doumeki released another arrow and the spirit moved further back. A moment later and it was gone.

The library came back to life immediately with people shouting and yelling, arguing and pushing books out of their way. Doumeki dropped the bow and lowered himself back down to relieve the pressure on his body. It was little relief.

"What is going on here!" A loud and booming voice echoed.

"Kurogane-sensei! A bookcase fell down on Doumeki-kun and Watanuki!"

"What the hell?" The gym teacher demanded. "What are all of you idiots standing around for? Get if off of them!"

Doumeki groaned in appreciation when he felt the heavy weight lifted from his injured leg. "The nurse, where is the nurse?" He demanded.

Kurogane-sensei sat on his heels and inspected them. "How did he get injured?" He looked at the red pool of blood around them.

"I don't know," Doumeki lied.

"Can you stand, kid?"

Doumeki shook his head. "I think my leg is broken." He shook Watanuki's shoulder because it looked like the other student had fallen asleep. "Kimihiro."

Watanuki shivered again and clung to one of his arms. "C-Cold..."

Kurogane-sensei took off his jacket and bundled it up into Watanuki's side. "He's lost a lot of blood. Come on, I'll take you both to the nurse's office." He stood up and spotted the librarian. "Call this kid's parents, would ya?"


	12. Chapter 12

Haruka tried not to feel like too much of a jerk as he pushed through the throng of students that were clamoring around the nurse's office. Some of the kids were downright unwilling to move aside as he shuffled passed, even though he _was _taller than half of them and trying to say '_excuse __me'_ as loudly yet as politely as possible. Eventually he gave up and just shoved his way through.

The safety of Watanuki and Doumeki was his top priority and at the moment these students were standing in the way of their safety. He had little patience for such inconveniences. It was lucky that Akane was slim enough to stick close to him and slip through the gap he created before it closed again with yet another body.

The principal and a couple of teachers were standing guard around the office. One of the teachers was a very large man – clearly the gym teacher by his choice of attire – and was yelling at the students to get back to class. Despite the fact he was a frightening and imposing figure no one was listening.

A look of relief crossed Principal Kinomoto's face when his eyes landed on Haruka and Akane as they emerged from the crowd. "You made good timing," the man remarked.

"What happened?" Haruka asked.

The principal ushered the two of them into the office and closed the door behind them. "I'm not really sure. There is a lot of confusion going on right now and no one has a clear picture of what happened. All that we do know is a book case fell down in the library and it landed on Doumeki-kun and Watanuki-kun. Both of them are injured, but Watanuki-kun's injury cannot be explained by a shelf falling on him." Kinomoto motioned for the nurse to move aside the curtain surrounding one of the beds.

The woman slid the curtain aside and revealed the students on the bed. Akane gasped at the sight of them.

Watanuki looked as pale as death, his face ashen white and his lips a cold blue. His eyes were closed, but whether it was from sleep or passing out from blood loss was anyone's guess. Doumeki was on the bed with him, one hand lying dutifully on Watanuki's bandaged side and his left leg in a make-shift splint the nurse had put on him.

Doumeki looked immediately relieved at seeing his grandfather and mother.

Haruka looked to the nurse and the principal. "Thank you. We'll take it from here."

The nurse held her hands together in front of her chest. "The boys need to go to the hospital immediately. Doumeki-san's femur is likely broken. Already his leg is swelling from the blood leaking from the bone. I do not know what happened to Watanuki-san's side, but the bleeding will not stop. I've changed his bandages twice already. Please, let me call an ambulance."

Haruka shook his head. "It will be faster if I drive them myself. Let me talk to my grandson a moment then we will take them to the car."

Kinomoto nodded at the look the nurse gave him. "It's all right, and it will be faster if they are driven directly." He looked at Haruka and Akane pointedly. "But only a moment, then we must get them to the car."

"Of course."

The principal and the nurse stepped out of the room and closed the door behind them. Haruka wasted no time in turning around and checking on Watanuki's temperature. He pressed the back of his hand against the boy's forehead and frowned. He was very cold. "What happened, Shizuka?"

"A spirit attacked him in the library," Doumeki informed him. "He didn't see it right away, or react to it at first. After it shoved the bookshelf on us it possessed a girl and tried to make him doubt my intentions. That's when he started to cough. One of the spirit's many arms injured his side when we fell."

"Many? How many?"

Doumeki furrowed his eyebrows together in thought. "It was difficult to count. It could have been eight, or twelve, or six. It was very large and kept most of its body covered in shadows at the far end of the library."

"And the wound?"

"It bleeds as soon as I let go."

If Haruka was one to curse he would have made a sailor blush. "As I feared, then."

"What?" Doumeki asked, mildly alarmed. He'd never seen his grandfather admit to having any kind of fear before.

"This spirit has been after Kimihiro-kun for a very long time. I've learned recently that his parents took drastic measures to protect him from it, but those wards have finally faded away."

"How do you know?"

Haruka pushed at the bangs that were hanging in Watanuki's closed eyes to the side. The color of his skin indicated they didn't have much time. "I looked at the pictures of their car accident. The marks of this spirit were all over the wreckage. The evidence of the spell they used just before they died was left behind as well and I recognize what they did."

"Spell? So his parents were not average people."

Doumeki's grandfather removed the glasses from Watanuki's face and stuffed them in one of his pockets. "Not in the least."

"Dad, we have to hurry," Akane spoke up.

"We have to get him back to the temple. This is not an average wound and the medics can stitch it all they want but it won't help."

"That's why I have to keep holding it?" Doumeki asked.

"You have a cleansing aura, Shizuka-kun. It acts like an antidote to the spiritual poison that was inflicted on him. I can save him, but we must get back to the temple."

"Will I need to go to the hospital after that?"

Haruka frowned deeply. "The femur is the largest and thickest bone in the body. It takes a great force of impact to fracture it. A bookcase should have caused excessive bruising, but no more than that. The spirit may have done something to cause more damage. You may yet need to go for surgery just to keep the bone in place, though."

"How are we going to get them to the car? Neither can walk," Akane pointed out.

"I can carry Kimihiro-kun out to the car. He won't bleed while I have him, too."

"I'll be fine on crutches," Doumeki said. "Let's just hurry."

Haruka moved around the bed and started to untie the splint on his grandson's leg. "You won't get anywhere on crutches with this. It should be fine until we get you home."

Akane rushed back to the door and asked for the nurse. Luckily the woman did have a spare set of crutches in her supply closet that she could lend to Doumeki for the moment. Haruka bent down and slipped his arms under Watanuki's body and lifted the limp form up. He was startled for a moment. The boy weighed practically _nothing. _"He's light," he stated.

"Always," Doumeki agreed.

The principal and other teachers gave them an escort to the car, though really they didn't need one by then. The students parted around them like the Red Sea, each of them with identical expressions of shock, horror and amazement at Watanuki's feeble form. It was probably quite a spectacle.

Once finally outside Akane opened one of the back doors of the car and helped her son ease his way in. Doumeki grunted and winced but finally managed to get his aching leg in place and out of the way.

Haruka noticed as Watanuki's face scrunched in sleep as the sunlight hit them. The boy shivered and a week hand clutched at Haruka's shirt. "Sh...Shizuka..." he murmured.

"It's Haruka, Kimihiro-kun. We're taking you home." The boy did not respond but at least he stopped shaking so much after the reassuring words.

Akane handed the crutches back to the nurse just as Haruka started to ease Watanuki into the back seat and back into Doumeki's arms. The teenager did his best to hold onto Watanuki even though he had to be placed partway on his lap and already broken leg. He was very uncomfortable, but he would rather die before letting go.

Haruka and Akane got in the front seat and the engine revved to life with the turn of the key. "Shizuka-kun, Akane-chan, place these around the car, would you?" Haruka held up a small handful of paper wards.

Doumeki raised an eyebrow at the precaution but grabbed a small stack and stuck them wherever his hands could reach.

"Do you really think it will try to attack us on the way home?" Doumeki's mother asked her father.

"I'll be surprised if it doesn't," Haruka replied.

_That_ wasn't very reassuring. Doumeki tightened his grip around the one in his arms a little more. "Just hurry."

Haruka stomped on the gas and they nearly peeled their way out of the parking lot of the school and down the street. Haruka had always been a rather sedate driver so Doumeki was surprised by the speed. He wondered what else would get his grandfather to drive like a crazed man.

Haruka turned the car around a corner and sped through two yellow lights and a stop sign, though he was still a little careful in checking for other traffic while he did so.

A block from the temple and Haruka brought the car to an abrupt stop. Doumeki shifted his position a little to get a better look out the front.

"Aah, see, told you so," Haruka smiled at his daughter.

"It's awful looking!" Akane yelled in shock.

"Well, it's no surprise." He pushed a button in the center console and the retractable roof started to pull itself down.

"Grandfather?" Doumeki asked.

"Eh, take a look, Shizuka. You can still see the chunk of damage Kimihiro-kun's parents left on the spirit. It's still missing its top right side."

Doumeki focused ahead and stared. Wow. It really was missing a part of its main body. Now that the creature was out in open daylight and unable to hide in the shadows of a crowded library Doumeki could see it in all of its gross, petulant, slimy green and purple glory.

The main body of the spirit was rather shaped like a jellyfish. The gelatinous mound coagulated and shifted around like briny ocean water was rumbling beneath the surface. The arms quivered and twitched in agitation around it. Doumeki indeed did see a top portion of the spirit's main body was missing and there was a poisonous looking pink goo slipping down the wounded side.

He also noticed two of his arrows still stuck in the creature's underside. He was glad to know his arrows were still causing some discomfort.

The driver's seat jostled around in place as Haruka lifted himself up and stood with almost unsteady legs in his seat. He was instantly glad he'd bought a convertible. "Bow, please."

Akane lifted a large hunter's bow from down next to her legs. Doumeki felt his mother was taking things rather well, considering her very recent exposure to everything. "Will this kill it?" He asked.

"No," Haruka sighed as he pulled his string back. "But it will make it clear out of the street for a little while. My arrows have a bit of a bigger bite than yours, for now."

Doumeki closed his eyes and held Watanuki protectively when an arrow flew into the creature and a storm of wind kicked up from the aftershock of the blow.

There was a sound, a screech-like noise of stones slipping and inhuman voices screaming. Haruka weathered the wind slashing at his clothes and skin as though he noticed none of it and fired again.

The spirit moved back another half a block, and then another when it was hit again by more spirit arrows.

After a volley of shots had all hit home Haruka felt satisfied with the results and slipped back down in his seat proper and handed his bow back to his daughter. "Now then, as soon as we get home Kimihiro-kun needs to be purified."

"It's a good thing he's unconscious," Doumeki said. "The water from the lake is always really cold."

"It's a pure source of water, a hard thing to come by these days," Haruka said as he pulled into the drive. "Besides, it's connected to a lake up on a mountain. Of _course_ it's cold." He shut off the engine and took the keys out of the ignition. "Akane-chan, go fetch something for Shizuka-kun to move around with. I'm taking Kimihiro-kun directly to the lake."

"There's a set of crutches left behind by a patron a few weeks ago. I'll go get them from the store closet."

"Very good," Haruka chirped. He got out of the car and opened the back door to retrieve Watanuki. "I won't need him long, Shizuka-kun. I will need you at the lake, too."

Doumeki was almost reluctant to let Watanuki out of his hold. The boy looked so terrible it seemed as if a mere touch would cause him to break. "Okay."

. . . . . . . . . .

Watanuki's unconscious body was mostly submerged in water at the edge of the temple's lake. Silt from the bottom of the pool had been pushed up into the wound and bound with white linens. His head was kept afloat in Doumeki's lap. Tanned fingers brushed at his bangs worriedly. Tiny wisps of blood leaked out from the wound still and thinned away in the water.

Haruka stood over them both with a bowl of ink and a calligraphy brush. "I suppose this is as good of a time as any, though it will be dangerous with your leg swelling with blood."

Doumeki looked up at his grandfather. "What do you mean?"

"Kimihiro-kun has lost a lot of blood, as you know. This needs to be restored. It would be best to give him some of yours. The way the magic handles the transfer of blood is ideal as it would keep the presence of yours in his system. The cleansing affects would be permanent, along with the added benefit of healing his wound."

"You mean a permanent ward for him? He wouldn't need intimacy anymore?"

"Not completely, no. He will still need you, but it won't have to be every twelve hours anymore. Perhaps once every twenty-four hours, maybe even forty-eight. We won't know the full impact of the transfer until after it's done."

"Fine, do it," Doumeki confirmed.

"This will hurt, Shizuka-kun. After which you will need surgery for your leg."

"That's fine."

Haruka smiled affectionately as he dipped his brush in the ink. "He will yell at you for hours afterward."

Doumeki's thumb rubbed down the pale boy's cheek, then his fingers buried themselves in coal black hair. "I know."


	13. Chapter 13

Watanuki blinked groggily. His muscles felt sore, stretched, and heavy. The light in the room was very low – nearly dusk. Awareness rushed back to him in a flurry and he sat upright quickly with alarm. "Shizuka!" He rolled to his side and was grateful to see said teenager sleeping soundly next to him on the oversized futon. His hands made fists in Doumeki's plain tan yukata and tugged. "Shizuka, wake up."

Doumeki's head rolled an inch to the side as he was rattled but otherwise did not move. "Shizuka!" Watanuki urged.

The sound of a shogi door slid open. Watanuki's head whipped around and saw Haruka's unassuming form enter the bedroom. "Ah, Kimihiro-kun. You are finally awake."

"Haruka-san!"

Doumeki's grandfather smiled and knelt on a cushion on the other side of his grandson. Judging by the crumpled state of the material it had been heavily used recently. "He won't wake up," Watanuki said in a small voice.

Haruka settled himself and smiled. "Ah, I'm not surprised. He's sedated right now. He should wake up in a few hours' time."

"Sedated, why?" Watanuki eased himself to fully sit upright.

Haruka brushed Doumeki's bangs away and checked his forehead. "We brought him home from surgery not long ago. He's still recovering from that."

Watanuki's blue eyes were wide. "Surgery?" He exclaimed with worry. "What happened?" His eyes searched Doumeki's form and noticed the thick bandages on his left leg.

"What is the last thing you remember, Kimihiro-kun?"

Watanuki mindlessly smoothed the material on Doumeki's chest. "I remember blacking out in the library. Shizuka was going to shoot the girl that had been possessed by the spirit. It wasn't her fault, and I asked him not to hurt her, but after that..." He frowned. "I only remember waking up just now after that."

"The girl is fine. The two of you were the only ones injured. The spirit shoved a bookcase on both of you and it broke Shizuka-kun's femur."

Guilt sat heavy and uncomfortable in Watanuki's stomach. His expression became stricken.

Haruka noticed the change of demeanor and frowned. "He saved your life, Kimihiro-kun. That spirit would have killed you had he not been right next to you in the library."

"He wouldn't have been injured if it wasn't for me. Everyone around me always gets hurt."

"That is not your fault."

"But, he would better off if-"

"Kimihiro," Haruka said. His voice was low and quiet and barely heard, but the tone made Watanuki stop mid-sentence. "Listen to me very well. My grandson loves you more than anything else in this world. He has chosen to protect you and keep you safe. He would rather be injured as long as you are alive." Haruka lit a rolled cigarette and puffed on the end of it. "The guilt you feel now would be nothing compared to the pain he would feel should something happen to you that he could have prevented. Allowing yourself to be hurt causes more damage to the people that love you than your body could ever experience."

"I-I'm sorry," Watanuki murmured, his head lowered. The idea that someone would choose their own welfare over his own was alien and unfamiliar, but he would try to swallow the guilt he felt if it meant keeping someone else happy. "I just... I feel so helpless and stupid. I'm just standing around like bait and there's nothing I can do to change anything..."

"This _is_ the first time you've been attacked since being with my grandson, isn't it?"

Watanuki was relieved to hear Haruka's tone of voice go back to normal. "Yeah, I guess it is." Doumeki's yukata was no longer smooth because Watanuki's long fingers kept worrying at the material.

"There are some things I need to tell you about," Haruka said with a sight. "These things will be painful to hear, but they must be said."

Watanuki nodded and braced himself for the bad news, whatever it may be.

"This is not an ordinary spirit, or even something as powerful as a Hell Hound. It is much, much worse. There are only so many of these in the spirit world, and they are avoided like a plague. Shizuka is strong enough to protect you from nearly all other things, except for this."

The teenager gulped and swallowed thickly. He really needed some water. "Then what is it?"

Haruka paused and looked at his cigarette in quiet contemplation. The burning ashes were looking brighter and brighter in the darkening light. "These things have been called gods in ancient lore. They are very, very difficult to destroy." His fingers brought the cigarette to his lips and he breathed deeply. The smoke he exhaled curled up into the air like oil swirling in water. "This spirit in particular has been after you for a very long time. It is responsible for killing your parents."

"My parents!" Watanuki gasped. "But they died in a car accident!"

Haruka shook his head. "They died in a car, true, but it was not an accident. I looked at the pictures you allowed me to hold on to. The marks of this spirit were everywhere, along with the evidence of the spell your parents used just before they died."

"Spell?" His voice cracked. "You mean... they weren't..."

"They were far from normal," Haruka confirmed. "I recognize the spell they performed. They left massive damage on the spirit and enough protection to hide you from its sight for over a decade."

"Was it... was it just after me then? Or them too?" The thought of being responsible for his parents' death was nearly too much to bear.

Haruka tapped the excess ashes from his cigarette in a bowl next to his knees. Watanuki noticed there was already a large pile of old ashes there. How long had he been waiting by their bedside for one of them to wake up? "You likely inherited your abilities from your parents, either one or both of them. We can only assume that they were pestered by the spirit realm as well."

Watanuki exhaled slowly, clinging to the idea that his parents, the last and only family he'd never really known, did not die _because _of him. He found comfort in the way Doumeki's chest rose and fell steadily with breath under his trembling hands. "I see."

Haruka tamped his cigarette out in the ash tray. "Do you trust Shizuka, Kimihiro-kun?"

He looked up from Doumeki's still face to Haruka's tranquil one. "Of course I do."

The old man nodded and smiled at the response. "And do you love him?"

Watanuki blushed a little and ducked his head. He looked at Doumeki's still and stony faced expression as he slept. The oaf actually looked peaceful and quite tranquil. Really, Watanuki always imagined that someday he would end up with a beautiful girl to marry and make his own family. Having Doumeki saunter into his life with a big giant _Oi_ had been almost too much to accept so suddenly. It would have been easy to be angry at him for ruining everything if the big jerk wasn't so honest and reliable and loving and downright _dependable _all the time_. _He was so sweet sometimes, despite being an uncivilized cretin, it nearly made Watanuki's teeth ache. Just a couple of days ago the shorter teenager realized Doumeki had eaten every last cookie he'd made _despite_ the fact that Watanuki had forgotten to put in the sugar in the first batch. "...Yeah. I love him," he admitted at length, in a nearly whispered disbelief.

Haruka pulled a small velvet box out of the pocket of his temple robes. "We will need to take measures to protect you and make you both stronger. I do not know yet how to destroy this spirit, but I promise you that I will find a way."

"We all will, right, Haruka-san?" Watanuki asked. Haruka extended his hand out and the teenager accepted the offered box.

"We will indeed." He tapped a finger on the box in Watanuki's hand. "I am sorry to ask you to do this so early, but I believe it to be necessary. Please wear these, you and Shizuka-kun both."

Watanuki opened the box and looked at his parents' wedding rings. "What? These! Why?"

"There are wards written inside of them," Haruka explained. "Further proof of your parents' nature. They will protect you and help Shizuka exorcise spirits that try to harm you. However much these will help, please don't try to leave the temple grounds until the spirit is dead. Even with intimacy it was not enough to hide you." Haruka looked out the window, a crease growing across his forehead. "This spirit has been trying to break down the wards on the temple since we returned."

"It has?" Watanuki exclaimed. "Will it..."

Haruka chuckled. "No, don't worry about that. These are holy grounds, and no matter how much of a ruckus it makes it cannot enter."

The teenager sighed with relief and held his parents' wedding bands close. "I guess it's official now, isn't it? Are we supposed to have a wedding ceremony, too?" He asked a little sarcastically.

"If you want," Haruka grinned. "But it's not necessary." He looked at the velvet box and sighed. "I am glad I kept those for you when your parents were brought to the temple all those years ago."

"You were the priest for their funeral?" Watanuki asked. When Haruka nodded his head he felt wet tears slip down his cheeks. He was suddenly and thoroughly overcome by a flood of emotions at the admission. His chest had an ache so deep he felt it might never recover. "I..." he sniffed and rubbed his face." I'm so glad it was you." He held back a sob and felt his shoulders shake just a little. "Thank you... I'm so glad... so glad it was you." The tears that emerged felt like poison was being sucked from his body. The immense relief at the idea that the last person to handle his parents had been Haruka, kind and caring as he was, felt like an old wound had finally decided to close.

The old man's features softened and he placed a hand on the teenager's head. "You are more than welcome, Kimihiro-kun."

Watanuki gave him a watery smile and rubbed the last of the stubborn tears from his face.

"You should get some more sleep. Shizuka will wake up soon and I'm sure he's going to ask for a mountain of food."

"Ugh," Watanuki moaned brokenly through his sobs and lowered himself to lay back down. "Black hole for a stomach," he grumbled but could not keep the tiny smile from his lips.

Haruka laughed. "You're very cute, Kimihiro-kun."

Watanuki blushed hotly with wide eyes. "Eh? C-Cute?"

Haruka stood up and walked to the still open shogi door. "Rest well."

Watanuki hid his red face in Doumeki's chest. "Right," his muffled voice squeaked back.

. . . . . . . . .

Doumeki became aware that he was laying down on a familiar futon with a warm weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and saw only the darkness around him. It must be very late at night, he thought to himself.

Watanuki was curled up and tucked into his side, an arm and the side of his face draped across Doumeki's chest. The weight was comfortable and familiar in a very satisfying way. Doumeki brought his hand up and rubbed his fingers through his partner's fly away black hair. "Kimihiro."

When Doumeki got no response he rolled onto his side, careful of his bandaged leg, and hugged the other male to him to better see his face. "Kimihiro."

Blue eyes looked black as they opened in the partial moonlight that slipped in from the window. "Hnn... Shizuka?"

Doumeki cupped his cheek. "Are you awake?"

His face scrunched up in confusion. "What? Am I.. awake?" Watanuki pushed against the futon with his arms and lifted himself up partway. He looked down at Doumeki and glared in shock. "Am I awake? I am _now_ you jerk! I was sleeping!"

The taller teenager shoved a finger in his ear. "Noisy."

"You're impossible!"

Doumeki's retort was cut off as his stomach growled very loudly. It was like listening to a wild animal caged right in the middle of them. "I'm hungry."

"Of course you're hungry! You're always hungry! Honestly, a guy can't get any rest with you." Watanuki fumbled with the blankets on him and tried to crawl out of the bed. He jostled the other by accident and Doumeki flopped right onto his back.

"Owe," Doumeki said, though he didn't really make it sound like he was in pain. "That was my leg."

Watanuki was back over him in an instant. "Don't move to your side like an idiot! Just stay there. You had surgery, for god's sake!" He furiously tucked the blanket around Doumeki and moved very carefully around his left leg. "Just stay here, I'll go make you something. It's like... three am! Making me cook so damned early..."

Hm. It was nice being fussed over, Doumeki realized. "I don't want to lay down anymore. I'm not tired. I want cha tea in the kitchen."

"What you want is a swift kick in the ass!" Watanuki got up and noticed a pair of crutches leaning against the wall in the bedroom. He moved them to lean against a desk and within easy reaching distance of the bed. "Come on, jerk. I'll help you up."

Getting up was tricky and difficult and included more than a few curses, but eventually Doumeki managed to become upright and hobbled his way down the hallway and into the kitchen behind Watanuki. He was so very grateful their kitchen had a western styled table with chairs he could sit in versus pillows to kneel on.

After a few minutes a hot pot of cha tea was set on the table with a set of cups. Doumeki watched as a cup was poured for him and set next to his folded hands on the table.

Watanuki looked like he was deliberating over something very important, his gaze flickering from the counter top to the table and back again. "Umm..."

Doumeki raised an eyebrow and wondered what was bothering him.

"Look, don't think this was my idea or anything..."

"...Kimihiro?"

A small velvet box was pushed across the table to him. "Just... put it on."

He nearly gasped in surprise when he opened it. "Your father's wedding band." He looked up at Watanuki's blushing face. "Are you sure?"

"Like I said, this wasn't my idea! Haruka-san said they're warded and will protect us. The _only_ reason you're getting my father's ring instead of my mother's is that the stupid thing wouldn't fit on _any_ of my fingers. It was too big."

Doumeki finally noticed the flash of gold on Watanuki's ring finger. Slowly, almost reverently, he lifted the ring and examined it. He could see delicately scrawled writing on the inside of the band. He tried it on his ring finger first and found it to be a perfect fit. A flush of warmth swept through his body that left a tingling of magic in its wake. "It's a powerful ring."

The other teenager walked back to the fridge and opened it. "You noticed it too, huh?"

"Yeah." He watched as Watanuki started preparing what looked to be a promising late night snack of onigiri and miso soup. "So when is our wedding?"

Watanuki twitched violently. "Don't be stupid! We are _not_ doing that! You'd call me the wife, anyway, you jerk! I know the way your oafish brain works."

"You are a good wife," Doumeki said thoughtfully as he watched the light dance across the metal and gems of the wedding band on his finger.

"Case in point!"

"Can we at least have a wedding cake?"

"Gah!" Watanuki despaired over his now simmering pot of soup. "All you ever think about is food!"

"Did someone say food?"

Doumeki and Watanuki looked at the entrance to the kitchen as Akane stumbled her way in, still in her night robe and rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"I think I heard cake," Haruka said from behind his daughter. "I want a cake right now."

"With multi-colored frosting," Doumeki supplied helpfully.

"I... I..." Watanuki flailed. "It's three in the morning!"

Haruka and Akane sat at the table as well and helped themselves to tea. It looked like they'd both just woken up as well, likely from the noise in the kitchen. "Aah," Haruka agreed. "It's the perfect time for cake. We all skipped dinner last night."

Watanuki hung his head and pulled the flour and sugar from the cupboard. He was never going to get sleep at this rate.


	14. Chapter 14

The boys had been forced to stay home for three days already due to Doumeki's broken leg, not to mention their unwanted guest outside the temple walls. He had been unable to practice his archery at all, but he still forced himself to get exercise by walking around the temple grounds on his crutches.

Much to Watanuki's ire, of course. He spent most of his time twittering around Doumeki and scolding him for not resting. Each time Watanuki told him to sit down and rest Doumeki would reply back that he would sit down if there was food on the table to give him incentive.

Jerk.

Watanuki felt very vindicated when the clouds rolled in and a thunderstorm the likes of which he'd never seen before began pouring rain down on them halfway through the second day. With the rain coming down Doumeki couldn't risk getting his bandages soaked and was thus confined indoors with the rest of them. Watanuki spent his time cleaning every surface he could reach. He approached the temple with the same ferocity he used to employ when scouring his apartment. Haruka had never seen the place so spotless. He hadn't realize the refrigerator was white instead of an almond color, and for the first time since the reconstruction of the wooden veranda he saw small veins of red in the golden colored surface.

On noon of the fourth day Watanuki set the table for lunch and wondered where Haruka was as Akane and Doumeki sat down. Haruka was nearly as enthusiastic as Doumeki was for Watanuki's cooking so it was strange to see him missing.

It was still raining outside so the teenager couldn't image the older man had gone outside for long. Perhaps he needed to grab something from the library? He had been spending most of his time recently researching through his vast collection of tomes and scrolls for a method to destroy the spirit. Perhaps he was still out there? Watanuki felt he ought to go out and retrieve him. Perhaps he had forgotten that it was time to eat. Watanuki had skipped meals a few times in the past when he was desperately studying for a test, so he wouldn't be surprised if this was the case.

He put out enough food for Doumeki and his mother and turned the heat down on the stove. "I'm going to go get Haruka-san for lunch. You think he's in the library?"

"Probably," Doumeki agreed.

"I did see him go out earlier today," Akane agreed. "Though I haven't seen him since then."

The teenager untied the apron from around his back and placed it on the hook on the wall. "I'll go find him."

"Hn," Doumeki mumbled through a mouthful of food. Really, not enough manners to even wait for everyone. Watanuki shook his head and left the kitchen.

The temple had a large collection of umbrellas that were available for patrons to rent while visiting the grounds during rainy days. Haruka had closed the temple off since the day Watanuki was attacked and had let no one outside of the family enter – even the shrine maidens had been asked to take a few days off while the Doumeki family sorted some things out. Watanuki had a wide selection to choose from.

He walked down the long and winding pathway to the library, but when he opened the door and peaked in the building was dark and vacant. The teenager furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and wondered where the man was. He wanted to find him soon for lunch would quickly get cold and the rain was so heavy the trim of his yukata was getting quite wet.

After searching the other buildings Watanuki was about ready to give up before he walked by the lake. Shockingly, Doumeki's grandfather was sitting in the middle of the lake on one of the stepping stones and ignoring the rain as it beat down upon him. He was sitting crossed legged as though he were meditating.

Watanuki didn't want to disturb him but he also didn't want to walk away and leave him in the rain. He made it to the lake and stepped lightly across the large stone boulders that acted as a walkway through the rippling surface of the water.

He finally reached the older man and angled the umbrella to shield him from the weather. "Haruka-san, what are you doing out here in the rain?"

"Ah, Kimihiro-kun, how nice of you to join me." Haruka smiled pleasantly, his arms resting on his folded knees. "I'm meditating at the moment."

"In the rain? What for?"

"Oh, the rain is essential for this meditation."

Watanuki looked very confused. "Oh, well, lunch is ready. It will get cold if we don't go in."

Still Haruka did not move or open his eyes as he continued to sit perfectly still. "Hm, that will be good. But first, would you do me a favor?"

"Sure," the teenager said uncertainly.

"Repeat after me: Rain spirit. You are summoned."

He boggled at the request. "_Rain __spirit. __You __are __summoned_," he said hesitatingly.

The lake rumbled as though it was boiling. Watanuki shouted in surprise when a wall of water shot up out of the lake as though it were alive.

When the water fell away a young girl stood on one of the stepping stones a few feet away. She had shocking red hair and stern eyes that glared at the two people in front of her. A pink umbrella with white fringe was slung across her shoulder carelessly. "Well, it's about damned time!" She barked haughtily.

"Ame-Warashi-san, how good to see you. It's been quite a while," Haruka greeted her calmly.

"Priest," was her only response. Watanuki gaped.

"Ame-Warashi-san, why are you flooding my temple?" Haruka still had not moved from his spot but Watanuki was certainly nervous. It was clear that this girl was not human, yet she had been allowed to enter the temple grounds. She likely wasn't dangerous, because Doumeki's grandfather obviously wouldn't let something harmful come within reaching distance of him, but still... the past was a harsh teacher, and he trusted nothing of a supernatural nature.

"I've been _trying_ to get your attention!" The girl cried out. "This place is locked down tighter than a safe! I'm surprised the rain could even touch it," she snorted.

Haruka stood and bowed his head apologetically. "Please forgive the perceived hostility. One of our loved ones is in danger and I cannot take a risk regarding his safety."

The girl nodded and a knowing expression crossed her face, dark and suddenly very, very old looking. "The Old One."

"Yes."

She propped a hand on her hip. "We've all been watching it lately. It's after this child, then?"

"Yes, it is."

She sniffed imperiously. "I need your help, priest. The hydrangea bush is dying and it needs to be purified. You are the only one around here that can do it."

Haruka stuffed his hands in the long sleeves of his kimono until they were hidden. "You know I would head over on any other occasion immediately, but at the moment I won't be able to help you until the threat of the Old One is destroyed."

"Figures," she mumbled. She sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Fine! I'll help you, but as _soon_ as the Old One is dead you have to save the hydrangea! No waiting, at all!"

"That's fine," Haruka agreed easily.

The rain spirit reached into a small pocket in her skirt and retrieved something. Watanuki was sure he heard something along the lines of _debts_ and _balance _grumbled under her breath but he could have been wrong.

The rain spirit tossed a small piece of metal at them. Watanuki ended up catching it but just barely. His hands fumbled with the awkward item and he became unsteady on his feet as he tried to grab it without allowing it to fall in the lake. "What is this?" He asked as he looked at the item in his hands. It looked like a silver pipe. The metal was carved and fashioned with stylized vines swirling up around it.

"Just use it," the girl said.

"Thank you for your help, Ame-Warashi-san," Haruka said.

"Don't thank me, it's an equal exchange. There's nothing to thank." She turned her back on them and went to leave, hopping on one stone and then another. She didn't even take another step before she growled in frustration and turned around on the spot.

"Damn it! It will still take too long with just that!" She growled even as Haruka grinned at her. "You should visit the Anything Store. Got it, priest?"

"Ah, it's been a while since I've been there. Thank you for the advice."

"You should be thankful!" She snapped her umbrella up over her head high. "Just get it done soon!"

"Will do," Haruka agreed cheerfully.

The girl lifted into the air until she disappeared in a cloud of rain. Minutes later and the sky cleared for the first time in days.

"She was... kind of strange," Watanuki observed.

"Yes, rainstorms can be finicky tempests, but she has good intentions."

"I suppose." Watanuki fingered the metal pipe in his hands. "What is this, Haruka-san?"

"Why don't you open it?"

Haruka started walking across the stones until he was back on normal ground and Watanuki followed. The teenager inspected the pipe and found a small piece at one end was larger than the rest of the pipe, as though it were meant to be held and pulled away from the rest of it. Watanuki pinched the end of the metal and pulled. A slightly smaller piece of metal slide out and revealed the hollow inside of the pipe.

Something small and yellow slid out of the opening and flew up around his neck. Watanuki started to panic and reached around himself in an attempt to grab whatever it was that had just slipped down his clothes. "Aaaah! It tickles! Get it off!"

Haruka laughed as Watanuki wriggled around like a worm. A few seconds later the creature... or whatever it was... slid around Watanuki's neck like a snake and stretched its tiny head around to look at him.

The eyes were so tiny they were almost non-existent. "What is it?" He asked bewildered.

The lithe little creature squeaked at him no louder than a mouse.

"A very generous offering," Haruka said. He rubbed a finger down the creature's furry neck appraisingly. "This is a pipe fox spirit."

"A pipe fox?"

The fox spirit squeaked happily and poked tiny kisses across Watanuki's cheeks.

"Yes," Haruka chuckled, "and it apparently really likes you. Foxfire will be an invaluable tool in defeating the spirit after you. This pipe fox can stay with you always due to its small size. It will be a very helpful friend."

Watanuki laughed as the kisses tickled his face. "He's cute."

"Now, didn't someone mention lunch is ready?"

"Yeah... say, Haruka-san?"

"Hm?"

Watanuki looked back at the lake as they headed to the house. "Why did you ask me to summon the rain spirit?"

"The special wards around the temple were made for you, Kimihiro-kun. Only you could have allowed something to enter without breaking the ward first. It also taught us something very valuable."

"What is that?"

"You have magical talent, Kimihiro. However latent it may be, you certainly have it. You will need to learn to control this."

Watanuki flushed. He did not want to have any special abilities. His current problem was enough to deal with. "How would I even learn? With my parents gone, they are the only ones I could think of that would know what I am supposed to be able to do, right?"

"I am priest and not a magician, but despite this I can still teach you the basics. I have a few esoteric scrolls that may yet yield useful information for you. As for the rest of it, well, that's what we have the Anything Store for."

Watanuki gulped.

. . . . . . .

_Author's Note:_

_One reviewer asked when Yuuko was going to make an appearance. I wanted to point out to anyone that is interested that Yuuko will not be making an appearance in this story. Don't get me wrong, for I like Yuuko. A lot. Who couldn't? She's a wonderful character and damned hilarious, too._

_However, Yuuko lives in another dimension and with Haruka alive she isn't needed in this one. I'd like Watanuki to live with Doumeki like a normal person instead of living alone for god knows how long. Let's just admit it, Yuuko really,_really_fucks Watanuki up in the head when she dies. I think he never would have consented to stay in the store otherwise. And, as we all know, once a price is paid it cannot be taken back, so even if he did regret it later it was too late. He was stuck as the shop owner._

_Well, not this time!_


	15. Chapter 15

Haruka slung his bow over his shoulder and turned back to the flailing teenager in the entryway. "I promise I will be fine, Kimihiro-kun. You worry too much."

"But-but!" Watanuki spluttered. "It's still out there! It will try to attack you, I'm sure of it!" His face was a picture of concern.

"It may," Haruka agreed, "but I didn't reach this old of an age without learning a thing or two. The spirit will not be able to harm me while I am out."

"But is this really necessary? What if something happens while you're gone?"

After announcing that he was taking a trip to the drug store Watanuki was all but convinced someone was going to die while Doumeki's grandfather was away. Whether that death occurred to Haruka while he was out or to Watanuki as he was stuck on the temple grounds were both likely scenarios in his horrified opinion. Haruka had been doing his best to assure the worried boy that yes, he did need to go and no, disaster was not yet going to strike. "Nothing will happen while I am gone," Haruka insisted. "Stay in the temple with Shizuka and Akane. I will not be gone long. If the rain spirit is to be believed I must make this trip."

"But-!"

"You do worry too much," Doumeki said from behind Watanuki as he entered the doorway.

"Don't sneak up on people!" The teenager shrieked in surprise.

Doumeki stuck a finger in his ear. He had to carefully lean on his crutches to do this. "Oh, shut up. You're so loud."

"And you should be resting!"

"I'll be back soon, boys," Haruka grinned as he left the house.

"Be careful!" Watanuki urged.

"Pick up snacks," Doumeki added.

"You uncivilized jerk! You don't ask for snacks when someone is going on a life-threatening mission!" Watanuki's voice carried over as Haruka made his way down the path.

"You're acting like a drama-queen."

"And _you're_ not getting any dessert tonight!"

Really, the two of them were just too funny.

The trip to the drug store itself was rather uneventful. Haruka felt the eyes of the old spirit staring at him as he left the area, but being an exorcist made it nearly too difficult for the spirit to touch him. It seemed it was far less effort to continue to try to get to Watanuki directly, even if it was impossible for it to break the wards and enter holy ground.

Well, no one ever said this was a particularly _smart_ spirit, just a really old and brutish one.

The drug store was further away from the temple than even the high school was so it took Haruka nearly fifteen minutes before he reached it. He smiled up at the sign that read 'The Green Drugstore.' It had been too long since he last visited.

The door chimed when he opened it in greeting. Two young men were working at the moment. One of them was ringing up a customer's purchase while the other was busy restocking the shelves. Haruka waited at the counter for the transaction to finish. The customer, a woman with wavy brown hair and a pink summer dress, smiled brightly at the man behind the counter. "Thank you so much! I just love coming here!"

The young man nodded politely but he could not hide the boredom in his expression. It seemed this was something he heard often. Doumeki himself often had that expression whenever a girl from school would confess her love to him. "Have a nice day."

The woman left and Haruka smiled in greeting. "Good afternoon. Is the manager Kakei-san available?"

"He's in back; can I help you with something?"

Haruka folded his hands into his sleeves. "A request for the Anything Store."

The bored look immediately vanished from the man's face. "Oh. Right this way." He left from behind the counter and directed Haruka to the back of the store where a large office was. He knocked sharply then opened the door right away. Haruka entered. "Thank you."

"Oooh! Is that Haruka-san?"

The priest turned to the person that just spoke and grinned. "Kakei-san. How are you?"

The drug store manager was a pretty man in his mid-thirties with platinum blond hair and sharp blue eyes. "Fine, quite fine! It's certainly been a while since I've had such a distinguished visitor." He smiled and shook Haruka's hand in a very western style. "You don't normally need my shop, Haruka-san. What brings you here today?"

Haruka pulled out a small envelope from his pocket and heard a snore from the couch that was against the far wall. He looked over and saw a large man sleeping, dark sunglasses covering his face. "Does Saiga-san ever wake up?"

Kakei grinned. "Don't mind him." He walked over to his desk and gestured for Haruka to sit down, which he did. "Now, how can I help you?"

"A certain rain maker suggested I come see you. You likely can access something that I cannot."

Kakei knitted his fingers together. "The Ame-Warashi?"

"The very same."

The pretty man frowned slightly. "This is quite serious, then. What are you looking for?"

Haruka opened the envelope in his hand and passed a picture from inside of it to the other man. "Anything that once belonged to these people."

Kakei looked at the picture of Watanuki's parents with an unreadable expression. His eyes became suddenly distant, is if he were remembering a long forgotten dream. It was a few minutes before he said anything. "These people are dead."

"They are. Murdered by one of the Old Ones."

"...Yes. I see that. It was... very awful for them." He set the picture down carefully on his desk and breathed deeply. "And the boy? I cannot see anything about him."

"He is alive."

"Alive," Kakei said at length. "Alive, yet I cannot discern anything of him. No past, present, or future. He is much stronger than I am."

Haruka resisted the urge to cross his arms. "That is startling, then. He does have magic, as I believe his parents did, but he has never used it, even in self-defense. His instincts about the spirit world are impeccable, but other than that..."

"No spells at all? Not even by instinct?"

Haruka shook his head. "No, but he is affected by everything. The spirit world plagues him relentlessly. The one that killed his parents is after him still."

"Then he will be dead soon."

"Not if I have any say over it." Haruka leaned forward and retook the picture. "His red string of fate is tied around my grandson so tightly I shudder to think what might happen to one of them should it be cut."

The manager nodded his head. "Then, your grandson has inherited the family gift?"

"He has."

Kakei stood up and Haruka followed suit. "Then it might be enough." He shook his head in a rueful way. "I should charge you a fortune for this, but with the circumstances..." He walked back to a picture on the wall and removed it. Haruka was not surprised to see a secret safe tucked away in the wall behind it.

When the sound of the safe clicked open the man on the couch snorted loudly once then woke up. "Oi, Kakei, what are you getting in there for?"

"Ah, good afternoon, Saiga-san," Haruka greeted.

The tall and broad shouldered man stood up and rubbed his head. "Priest. What are you doing here?"

"Picking up something that has been waiting for him," Kakei explained. The item he brought over to Haruka took his breath away.

"How did you get a hold of this?" Haruka asked. He reverently took the green and gold sheathed sword from the other man. It looked exactly like it did in the picture with Watanuki's parents. Li's sword.

"Many years ago. An antique dealer managed to get a hold of it from a government auction, but it was such a curious sword no one would buy it. He asked me to take it off his hands. It's been here ever since."

Haruka placed his hand on the handle and unsheathed it. The metal made a soft hiss of noise against its casing as it was exposed.

A sudden, overwhelming feeling of anger and betrayal sang through his blood. There was grief, and loss, and so much anger Haruka nearly dropped the weapon. His hand vibrated around the handle and he struggled to quiet the storm raging inside of him. "This sword..."

"A living weapon," Saiga said. He crossed his arms and leaned against the desk. "It hates everyone that touches it. No one has been able to use it."

Haruka gasped and the sword clattered on the surface of the desk when he dropped it. "It misses its previous owner. I think it knows of the boy's existence and wants to find him. I seemed to gain that impression through all of that anger."

"As I said," Kakei smiled. "For something like this I should charge you a fortune, but with the circumstances, it's not really mine to charge. You should take this back to that boy. He needs it. The sword needs him."

Haruka tried to picture Watanuki using a sword and had to stifle a laugh. While the boy was graceful while cooking and cleaning, he was also quite clumsy during the oddest of times. He couldn't imagine Watanuki holding anything larger than a cooking knife without the boy looking panicked about it. "I will take it to him."

Haruka looked at the etched details carved in the blade. There was a name written there. He studied it and realized it was written in Chinese. He nearly gasped for a second time that day as he looked at the name and translated it in his head. "Of course. I should have known. With parents like his... it's no wonder."

"What is it?" Kakei asked curiously.

Haruka pointed to the name on the blade. "The name on this sword. It says Shaoran. Li Shaoran. Kimihiro's father was named Li, but the surname..." He shook his head. "Watanuki, written like the word 'decoy,' and Kimihiro, written like 'April first'. A false name, to protect him."

Saiga watched as Haruka carefully put the sword back in its holder. "He had good parents."

"He did," Haruka agreed. His eyes met Kakei's again and he smiled. "Thank you. I hope you can keep an eye out for anything else that may have belonged to these people. Kimihiro-kun lost most of their possessions when his parents died."

"I think we should actively look for these items. They wouldn't have only had a magical sword – there will be more things, perhaps even more dangerous for strangers than just this sword. I will have my employees start looking for the retrievable items right away."

There was a loud crash from outside of the office door. "_Rikuo,__you __big __jerk!"_ Someone screeched.

Saiga sighed. "Speak of the devil."

Haruka grinned. "It sounds like your employees are as close as ever."

"More like 'as dense as ever'," Saiga corrected.

The manager chuckled. "They are good boys and work hard."

Haruka grabbed his items and heard another crash as he walked to the office door. "You have my sincerest thanks, Kakei-san, Saiga-san. I will make sure we send you regular shipments of my sake."

Saiga grunted. "Fair enough."

The walk home did not feel nearly as long. Haruka's feet carried him swiftly back to the temple.

The sword vibrated and suddenly felt hot even through the sheath in his hand. The closer he came to the spirit that was next to the fence the hotter the sword became. So, it knew this spirit, and knew what it had done to Watanuki and his family. This would prove to be very interesting.


	16. Chapter 16

The temple was quiet when Haruka entered the grounds. With the shrine maidens sent home and the grounds closed to visitors the place hadn't seen much activity of late. The plants were becoming in need of attention and the grass needed to be mowed again. Watanuki had spent a great deal of time sweeping the walk ways clear of leaves and debris but he couldn't keep up with everything on his own. Akane spent most of her time working on paperwork and patron relations as she usually did, and the rest of it helping Watanuki take care of the house work and the laundry and keeping Doumeki off his feet.

Haruka was looking forward to getting this spirit dealt with.

The kitchen was fairly quiet too as he entered the main building and removed his shoes. He did hear giggling coming from the sitting room, though. Careful to keep the sword behind his back he quietly opened the door to the sitting room and saw Watanuki hop around and attempt to reach something on his back. Akane was giggling.

"It tickles!" Watanuki squawked and twirled a little in place as he tried to reach further behind him.

"He's just trying to show he loves you!" Akane gushed.

"Aaagh!" Was the teenager's not so eloquent reply.

Doumeki's quick hand managed to pull something out of the collar of Watanuki's shirt and held tight to the squirming creature. "You'll break your neck if you keep this up."

"You _could_ have helped a little sooner!"

"I'm injured."

"You don't seem to think you are when you're told to rest!"

The pipe fox continued to pull against Doumeki's grip against its slim body but found itself stuck. It squeaked at Watanuki pointedly.

"Have you named it yet? Akane asked.

"Oh, uh, no, not yet," Watanuki said sheepishly. He held his hand up on front of the pipe fox in invitation. Doumeki released it and the creature slithered over to its favorite person. It looked up at Watanuki and squeaked again, seemingly in agreement with Doumeki's mother. "Um..." Watanuki thought. "I think... Mugetsu, because your eyes are so small."

The newly named fox spirit squealed in delight and wound itself around Watanuki's neck and kissed his cheek affectionately. Watanuki laughed and gently pulled the creature away as he proclaimed that it still tickled so much.

"It's a good name," Haruka said from the doorway. With the excitement caused by Mugetsu no one had noticed him yet.

"Haruka-san!" Watanuki gasped. "You're back! Is everything okay?"

"Did you find anything?" Doumeki asked.

Haruka entered the sitting room proper. "Yes, I believe I have." He found Watanuki's dark blue eyes and smiled softly. "I have something for you, Kimihiro-kun."

"F-For me?" The boy blushed. Haruka wondered when the last time was Watanuki had received a gift of any kind. Too long, probably.

"Here." Haruka pulled the sword from behind his back and presented it in both hands.

Watanuki became still and almost pale. His eyes were captivated by the item in Haruka's hands. His hands twitched, as though he had tried to move and take it but was impeded by something. "Is that..." He started to ask quietly.

"Your father's sword," Haruka confirmed.

Watanuki finally managed to extend his reach and take the item. His breath hitched as his hands tightened around the sheath. "How?" He asked, his voice strained.

"Ame-Warashi-san always gives good advice."

"I can't believe... this sword..." He blinked rapidly to try to ward off the tears that stupidly wanted to spill. "I would spend _hours_ when I was young looking at that picture. So many times I wished I could have this, just for a moment, to have something real that was his..." He also thought perhaps if he had the sword he might be a little safer from the horrible things that pestered him, as though a part of his father were in this sword and would always protect him.

"If the rain spirit is to be believed, then you're supposed to use this to help destroy the spirit that is after you."

"I..." Watanuki rubbed his eyes and slowly digested what Haruka said. "_What!_" He shrieked when he realized the implications. "I don't know how to use a sword! I could lose a limb just trying to take it out!"

"I can use it," Doumeki offered. "A bow is only good for long range combat. I've had a little training in kendo."

"Who said you could use my _father's_ sword!" Watanuki barked in reflex. Doumeki raised a sardonic eyebrow, the look that said _I'm __staring __at __an __idiot_ crossing his face once again. "Er, I mean, fine! As long as it kills the spirit, I don't care. Just... don't break it like an idiot!"

Doumeki rolled his eyes and set the crutches aside. Despite Watanuki's protests he had been healing very quickly and could stand for a short time without the annoying things. He held his hand out to take the sword.

"Be careful," Haruka warned, because it was important for both of them to experience the effects of this item first hand rather than a simple worded explanation. The gravity of his tone made Doumeki pause and stare at his grandfather. Mild concern was a little visible on his face.

Doumeki took the sword in his hands. He gripped the handle with his right hand and pulled it out of the case. He gasped immediately and nearly dropped to his knees. His whole arm vibrated and he put a hand on the wall to steady himself. "What-" he tried to get out but only managed to drop the sword and clutch his hand to his chest. The skin was red like a burn.

"Shizuka!" Watanuki rushed to his side and helped to support him and inspected his hand. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Doumeki said as he still tried to get his breath under control. "That sword-"

"Is a living weapon from what I was told," Haruka cut in. "It has a sort of consciousness all its own and it is very, very angry about the death of Kimihiro-kun's father. It's reacted like that to everyone that has tried to hold it since then."

"A magical sword?" Akane asked from her seated position. "How interesting."

"Then... what about me?" Watanuki asked worriedly.

"It's been waiting for you," Haruka informed him.

"But, I can't use a sword!" Watanuki complained. "What I supposed to do with it? You or Shizuka should be the one to use it! It'll be a waste if it's with me!"

"Then you will have to convince the sword to let someone else use it."

"_Convince _a _sword?_" Watanuki asked flabbergasted. "How do I talk to a _sword?_"

"Pick it up and find out," Haruka grinned.

"Be careful," Doumeki said next to him. "The emotions that sword can send through you can be overwhelming."

Watanuki swallowed worriedly and knelt down next to the weapon. His fingers twitched in agitation before clamping quickly around the metal.

He nearly blacked out from the rush of _Important __son __found, __avenge __avenge __avenge __**Avenge! **__Danger__ous outside __walls, __strong __will, __fight __power __strength __sincerity, __avenge __important __father!_ Watanuki gasped just like Doumeki had, but instead of anger he felt the sudden heady feeling that he was practically invincible. Watanuki let go and trembled. "That thing is _dangerous!_"

"Why?" Doumeki asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Because! It made me feel like I could take on anything! Like I should just rush out to that spirit right now and attempt to attack it, as if I could win! I'm not stupid enough to think that's true, I don't care how magical the sword is!"

"It's just a weapon," Haruka said. "It does not have the capacity to reason like any of us. It acts solely on instincts and impressions of its perceived environment. You must have a strong force of will to control it."

The rain spirit said they needed this sword, so someone had to use it. The teenager was determined to make the sword let someone else handle it. Watanuki rubbed his hands down his pants because his palms were feeling sweaty after all this. Somehow it seemed wrong to put a sweaty hand on such an item.

He expected the onslaught of emotions this time so he was prepared for everything. He managed to interject his own thoughts amidst the frenzied need to _fight _and _avenge!_ He wasn't sure he was saying things right in his head, but he needed the sword to know that _Doumeki_ was the one that needed to use it and he was incapable of protecting himself with it because he had never been trained.

_No!_ The sword insisted. _Strong, __can __fight! __Important __son __of __important __father __can __fight!_

_I __can't!_ Watanuki urged back. _I __can't __learn __to __use __you __fast __enough! __We __have __to __save __the __hydrangea __plant, __too, __and __we __are __running __out __of __time!_

_Can __feel __important __son's __strength!_ The sword asserted.

_I __trust __Shizuka!_ Watanuki's mind screamed back. _You __must __trust __him, __too!_

For what felt like a long while the sword's will battled his own in a sea of intangible thoughts. Watanuki held fast to his determination and his conviction that the sword needed to trust in _his _judgment and listen to him regarding this matter. Eventually the storm of emotions subsided significantly as the weapon relented. _Trust...__the __son __trusts __him. __Will __trust __Shizuka._

Watanuki sighed with relief and moved to pass the sword over to Doumeki. "It's fine now. Go ahead."

Doumeki looked skeptical but took the handle anyway. After a few moments he felt a grudging respect filter through the item's metal and up through his skin. "Better," he sighed.

"Good," Haruka said, pleased. "I'm glad it worked out."

"So, what do we do now?" Watanuki asked.

"Give me another day," Haruka said as he sat down next to Akane. "I'll have to work the sword's magic into the ritual that we will use to destroy the Old One."

The teenager nodded stiffly, nervous for the final confrontation but eager for it all to be over.

"Don't worry, Kimihiro-kun. Everything will be all right," Haruka assured him.

"It will be," Doumeki agreed and wrapped an arm around Watanuki's middle.

"I hope so," Watanuki said softly.

"You can trust in us," Akane said with surety. "We all love you by now, Kimihiro-kun. We won't let anything happen to you."

. . . . . . . . .

Doumeki watched as Watanuki carefully unwound the bandage on his leg and started cleaning the wound. His leg was healing faster than Haruka predicted it would. The stitches had been taken out just the day before. Watanuki insisted on still wrapping it because the healing scar from surgery was still red and tender and Doumeki tended to ignore himself when it came to injuries. He was scolded by his partner frequently for this. Doumeki found he didn't mind.

Watanuki dabbed at the scar gently with a cotton ball and antiseptic. His face was scrunched up rather cutely in Doumeki's opinion as he inspected his work. "It's looking a lot better," he commented. "You're not feeling much pain anymore?" His eyebrows rose up in concern when he looked up to the other teenager's face.

Something tickled inside his chest as Doumeki looked at that expression. Strange how insanely good he felt being on the receiving end of Watanuki's undivided attention. "No, not much."

He nodded and went back to cleaning. "Good. It's almost healed, I think. I'll wrap it up one last time tonight. Your skin still looks a little sore."

"All right," Doumeki agreed quietly. He really didn't care what Watanuki did as long as his elegant and delicate fingers didn't stop gliding across his skin.

Watanuki smoothed anti scarring medication over the area and started wrapping it back up in fresh gauze. He moved with infinite care. Doumeki watched intently as those lithe hands finished the work and taped the bandage in place. They were on the futon in their bedroom, Doumeki seated and leaning back on his hands as Watanuki knelt by his side.

Fingers traced the edges of the bandage, hesitant to leave. "Your leg _is_ much better, right? You can put pressure on it now and it doesn't hurt?" The fingers spread out a little further, creeping up Doumeki's thigh shyly but needing.

"Yeah," Doumeki agreed. His heart thudded loudly and he was suddenly afraid to breathe too heavily. He definitely wanted his partner's hands to keep wandering further up. There was a furious blush on Watanuki's face. His hands froze in place for a moment and he looked scared enough to run. Doumeki remained still as stone and waited with baited breath.

Without warning Watanuki shifted his body weight up and maneuvered himself until he was straddling Doumeki. His hands gripped Doumeki's shoulders for support. He tried not to sit too fully on the other boy's lap and instead ended up closer to his face. "I-Is this okay?"

Forget baited breath. Doumeki plain _lost_ his breath. "Yeah," he rasped in a husky voice. "It's fine."

Fingers moved from his shoulders and up behind his neck to bury themselves in his short black hair. Doumeki could scarcely believe it. He had to be dreaming. Really, he did. Watanuki was actually taking the initiative! He tried not to let his hand tremble has it slid up beneath Watanuki's yukata to clutch at his upper thigh.

The poor boy looked absolutely nervous. There was nothing for him to worry about when it was always Doumeki that initiated intimacy, but _he'd_ never taken the leap before. He usually tried to express the exact opposite sentiment whenever asked. He was certainly too embarrassed to ever say more than that on the topic.

He found he missed the contact, though. Being so close to someone actually felt really good and the more they did it the more his body wanted it. It was like getting addicted to sugar.

Doumeki kept very still as Watanuki's fingers worried at his hair line and the boy continued to blush. If he was going to start everything Doumeki wanted him to follow through with it.

Watanuki released the breath he was holding and kissed him. At first it was a shy touch with hardly any pressure. Doumeki turned his head slightly to the side for a better angle and the kiss deepened.

This was going down as his favorite day ever. Really. Doumeki was going to make a national holiday out of it. Every year at this time he decided he was going to take a holiday and celebrate the night that for the first time Watanuki kissed him all on his own, straddled him, and, even if it wasn't actually vocalized, asked for sex.

Shaking but determined hands slipped the yukata down Doumeki's shoulders and exposed his upper body. The kiss became harder and then there were teeth nipping at red lips and everything felt right with the world. Doumeki slid his one available hand further up Watanuki's leg and squeezed his rear. He wasn't concerned with the other teen's yukata being removed. He was lacking any underware and that was all that mattered in his opinion.

Watanuki quietly moaned out Doumeki's name at the fondling. He closed his eyes and bit his lip in such a way Doumeki thought it was the most seductive thing he'd ever seen. Strong and steady hands rolled them over until Watanuki was pinned under Doumeki's weight. "Shizuka!" He gasped in surprise.

Doumeki did not deign to answer him with anything other than another kiss.


	17. Chapter 17

"Shizuka-kun."

Doumeki paused as he rubbed a towel over his wet hair. He had just gotten out of the bath and put a robe on to walk back to his bedroom and dress. It was still very early in the morning and the sun was barely up yet over the horizon. A little surprisingly his grandfather was suddenly standing at the door to the bathroom looking like he'd already been up for hours.

"Grandfather?"

"We are going to deal with the spirit today. You and Kimihiro-kun should get prepared."

His stomach clenched tightly with stress. While he had all the confidence in the world in his grandfather there was always a chance something could go wrong. He nodded his head once stiffly. "We will."

Haruka smiled thinly and clasped Doumeki's shoulder. "Don't worry. It will be difficult, but I don't think Ame-Warashi-san would have tasked me with purifying the hydrangea bush if she felt this was a doomed mission."

"His parents had magic, and we've learned they were very powerful, but even they died from this spirit. Why will it be any different for us?"

"They were strong, true, but they were still very young, and they were not exorcists. You and I both have an advantage because of that."

Doumeki nodded again, slightly more reassured. "I'll go get Kimihiro."

"Meet me near the back of the temple grounds by the small hokura shrine as soon as you both eat breakfast."

"We will."

Once Haruka left Doumeki shut the light off in the bathroom and went to his bedroom.

As he expected, the other boy was still fast asleep on the futon. He did not usually wake up naturally until the sun had been up for an hour at least. The top of his head was visible down to just below his eyes, the rest of his face and body hidden by blankets. One arm was extended passed the edge of the futon and hovered just over the floor. His glasses were up on a table just out of reach.

If they needed to prepare Doumeki would take no chances with his safety. Quietly he closed the door. As he walked closer he dropped the towel that was still in his hand on the floor behind him. His robe followed after the towel. He knelt down beside the futon and carefully pulled down the blanket that covered part of Watanuki's face. He disliked waking the other up so early but it couldn't be helped. He ran his fingers through soft black hair. "Kimihiro."

Watanuki mumbled something unintelligible and tried to shuffle further down into the blanket.

Doumeki smirked a little and pulled the coverings fully away.

"Nnnn... Shizuka!" Watanuki blinked his eyes open and squinted up at him. He saw only a blurry, faintly annoying face staring down at him. "What?"

"It's time to wake up."

The teenager tried to roll over and grab the missing blanket. "Ten more minutes, your stomach should be able to wait that long." Doumeki climbed on top of him and pinned him down, causing the reach for the blanket suddenly impossible. "Just _what_ are you doing so early in the mor-"

Watanuki's question died on his lips as Doumeki kissed him urgently. Large hands slipped under his neck and cradled his head up slightly and hips pushed demandingly against his groin. He wanted to protest that it was too early to worry about this yet, and it wasn't like they could go anywhere so couldn't this wait until a little later? Sure he understood desire by now but this almost felt like necessity sex...

It was strange to realize in his head that there was a difference between actual lust and being intimate because they had to. Both felt good, _really _good like always, but the emotions that drummed through his blood were a little different. He was almost mortified to have identified multiple kinds of sex. That just _not _something he would have ever done before.

Doumeki sucked on two of his fingers quickly before pushing them inside his partner's entrance. Not even much foreplay this time, either. That was odd. Doumeki was usually really greedy with the amount of kisses that he wanted.

Watanuki gasped at the intrusion and trembled when those fingers brushed over that particular spot inside. "Shizuka!" A tongue ran along his pale neck and teeth nibbled gently at the pulsing artery. "Shizuka," he gasped and wrapped his legs around Doumeki's waist. "What's wrong?" Everything felt too urgent, too hard and too fast and there was something definitely going on.

"Nothing," Doumeki whispered in his ear before kissing him again and quieting any other questions. _Don't __ask __that __now, __not __now...__just __wait __till __we're __finished. _Watanuki sucked in a lung full of air when his partner pressed against his entrance and slipped inside.

Doumeki managed to keep Watanuki's questions quiet until well after they finished. It was better for the boy to enjoy morning as much as he could before he was told what was to follow.

. . . . . . . .

"This is a really, really bad idea!" Watanuki asserted loudly.

"Nonsense," Haruka smiled as he poured salt on the ground. "I've worked all the kinks out of this plan. Everything will be fine."

"But-!" The teenager continued. "You plan on summoning that... that _thing_ here? In the temple grounds! It's the only place I'm safe!"

"Which is precisely why we create a summoning circle here. The temple will offer the most protection for you while allowing us to kill the spirit quickly, without interference from other spirits that might be outside."

He couldn't help but shuffle his weight from one foot to the other in nervous agitation. Haruka was currently pouring a ring of purified salt around him, large enough to encase him and allow him to move but not enough to lay down inside of it without breaking the circle. "I've used more salt than anyone has a right to dealing with spirits in my life. This isn't enough to stop a _boss_ from getting to me!"

"You've not used _my_ salt," Haruka informed him. "Also, you have Mugestu with you, and his fox fire will help protect you should the spirit get too close."

"But-!"

"Stop complaining," Doumeki commented from behind his grandfather. He was working on getting the string attached to his bow. "You want this dealt with, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" He yelled in reflex. Mugestu squeaked noisily around his neck and tickled at his cheek. "I don't want anyone hurt either, though..."

"Have some faith, Kimihiro-kun," Haruka insisted.

The teenager blushed and swallowed his complaint. "Just... be careful?"

"Always," the old man chirped. He stood up once the circle was complete and wiped his hands against each other to clean them of the excess salt. "Now, keep him in this circle, Mugetsu. We're counting on you to not let Kimihiro-kun come to harm."

The pipe-fox squealed and wound itself around the boy's neck twice before squeaking its response at the priest.

"Very good. Shizuka-kun, please take your place next to the hokura shrine."

"Got it." Doumeki hefted his bow over his shoulder and walked a few feet away.

"This is still a really bad idea!" Watanuki fretted.

Haruka picked up his own bow and a quiver of arrows from the ground and slung them over his back. "Remember my signal, Shizuka-kun. We need to weaken it first, then use the sword to remove the arms."

"I'm ready."

"I'm not!" Watanuki wailed. Mugetsu squeaked again.

Haruka walked around a large circle that had been drawn in the dirt. There were symbols written inside of it, all of which meant nothing to the two teenagers. The characters were archaic and impossible to discern their meaning. The priest readied his bow and pulled the string back, a brightly shining spirit arrow faithfully docked and ready. Doumeki mimicked his grandfather and readied an arrow. "All right, Kimihiro-kun. Repeat after me: Old One, you are summoned in this circle."

Watanuki's face paled, his hands fists in his hair. "Are you sure?" Haruka merely nodded at him. "Er.. argh... Fine! _Old __One, __you __are __summoned __in __this __circle."_

The diagram drawn in the dirt flared to life with light and a rush of wind. Watanuki shrunk to his knees and shielded his face as dust flew up and into his eyes. There was a squeal of noise, a shriek of triumph and frightful thuds as heavy long tentacle arms slammed against the ground and pushed against the barrier of the summoning circle. The noise was almost deafening.

The creature was rocked by a heavy blow as Haruka's first arrow struck home. Just as it started to move in the direction the hit pushed it in Doumeki's arrow hit it from the other side and rocked the spirit back again. The creature screamed as it was bombarded on both sides by powerful spirit arrows. Its several arms danced wildly as it looked for escape.

Watanuki's eyes watered from the debris in the air but managed to get a good look at the thing. He had not actually seen the spirit yet. The first time the creature had shielded its presence from him in order to get closer and the second time he was passed out in the back of the Doumeki family car. Akane was right, it was awful looking.

A crack appeared in the barrier surrounding the creature as it continued to beat against it. Watanuki felt his heart beat in his throat.

"The barrier is starting to break down!" Haruka called out to his grandson. "Get ready!"

"Do it!" Doumeki yelled back.

They must have discussed the plan prior because Watanuki had no idea what they were talking about. "What? No, don't do something rash! Keep it in that circle thing!"

Haruka changed the angle on his bow slightly and did something with his hand. While neither could quite see what he did the result was three spirit arrows chirping loudly like lightning in his grasp. This hit was going to be a big blow.

"Get back!" Haruka narrowed his eyes on his target.

Doumeki backed up and continued to fire a volley of shots. "Fire!"

The priest released his arrows. Watanuki might have screamed during the aftershock, but he wasn't sure. If he had he was unable to hear himself in the maelstrom that followed. The shattering of the circular barrier was akin to an explosion of glass, shards of magic splintering and crumbling to the ground. The creature screamed angrily and lashed out with its newly freed legs in search of its attackers.

Doumeki fired more arrows but lost sight of them as they disappeared in the swirling mass of magic and wind and legs.

One of the spirit's legs brushed up against Watanuki's ring of salt. The teenager covered his head completely and felt the reverberations around him as the barrier held.

"_Grandfather!" _He heard Doumeki yell. Watanuki looked up and managed to catch a glimpse of a body lying on the ground somewhere on the other side.

"_Keep __firing!"_ The other man managed to bellow back.

Now that it seemed Haruka was down and his painful arrows was of no more concern the spirit moved closer to Watanuki and tried to break the circle of salt. Its huge lumbering form filled his vision and a putrid smell invaded his nose. "Shizuka!" Watanuki yelled frantically. He felt pitifully exposed and trapped all at the same time.

Mugetsu unwound itself from around the young man's neck and squeaked indignantly at the creature trying to attack them.

A flash of light as the creature fully left his neck and suddenly the little pipe fox spirit was a fully grown fox of a respectable size. Nine tails twitched angrily and claws longer than talons scraped menacingly against the ground. The fox spirit was a thing of beauty, sleek white fur and graceful body ready to pounce.

Mugetsu opened its mouth and a gold colored fire spilled forth. The attacking spirit backed away instantly from the heat. The pipe fox leaped over the ring of salt and cleanly sliced away one of the creature's many arms.

Something in the air shifted. Watanuki didn't know what it was, but something felt _different_ after that arm came off. It seemed like something they were supposed to do, and it felt completely right.

Doumeki tossed aside his bow and drew the sword that was strapped to his waist. He was glad that his leg was completely healed because he found he needed to be quick on his feet chasing after each leg while avoiding the many others. Li's sword sang with power in his hands and lusted after the blood of the spirit.

Doumeki wondered if spirits had their own kind of blood. Perhaps they bled just pure energy? It was an interesting thought. He was about to find out. The sword sliced through the air and pushed through one of the arms like it was hot butter. The appendage dropped to the ground and faded away in a wave of liquid stench.

Mugetsu made a noise from deep in its throat, a call that was only possible in its larger form. Watanuki thought it sounded something like the recordings of the soulful calls of whales that lived deep in the oceans. The noise captured the spirit's divided attention and allowed another arm to be cut from its trembling, massive body.

It felt like it must have taken hours, but eventually Mugetsu and Doumeki managed to cleave the old spirit of all of its appendages. Doumeki lifted the sword in his hand and dove in for the final strike. His grandfather had explained how this creature needed to die and it certainly wasn't easy. The rain spirit had been right in that it would not have been enough to just use Li's sword – Mugetsu was far better at this with his fire and sharp claws. The fox spirit could move faster than any human.

The old spirit shrieked in rage when Doumeki buried the sword into its side and pulled, opening a huge gash in the main body. A black and oily substance spilled forth and frothed like burned coffee on the ground.

Haruka managed to push himself upright and retake his bow. He probably should have backed up himself, considering he was close enough to get knocked down and twist his ankle. He pulled a single arrow out of his quiver and rolled a very special paper ward around the wood shaft. Carefully balancing himself he aimed for the open wound his grandson created and released.

The projectile buried itself in the old spirit's body and brought the ward to the heart of it. Tempest winds whipped around them and tore are their clothing. The surface of the spirit's body rippled like a rip current and shrunk into itself, quite literally in the works of imploding.

Further and further the body shrunk in upon itself, collapsing and squeezing every last drop of the vile substance it had for blood. When the noise suddenly stopped Watanuki's ears kept ringing, a strange tense silence hanging over them.

One small, tiny piece of black energy buzzed angrily in the center of the broken summoning circle. Doumeki stood motionless and stiff, not willing to relax and not sure what to do, because his grandfather had not mentioned this being the result.

Mugetsu leaped up like he was made of air and snapped his jaws over the ball of energy. The fox spirit landed on the ground and swallowed the ball neatly, licking its jaws and chirping happily in its strange, deep sounding voice.

Doumeki dropped the sword and rushed to Watanuki's side. He slid to his knees and pulled the boy close, kissing him and checking him over for any damage. "Are you okay?" He managed to ask between kisses.

"Fine," Watanuki pulled away and gasped, only for Doumeki's hand to cup his head and pull him back again. "Mhmmf – I'm fine, fine!" He pushed away. "But Haruka-san!"

Haruka smiled. This was the first time the boys had ever kissed in front of anyone. He reflected on the knowledge that it was also the first time Shizuka was ever more concerned about the welfare of someone else above his grandfather. It was pleasant realizing that his grandson was nearly grown now and had found someone so special.

The boys got up and ran over to him. "Haruka-san!" Watanuki worried. "Are you all right?"

"Fine, Kimihiro-kun. I only twisted my ankle." Mugetsu pushed itself against the priest's side and cooed at him.

Doumeki knelt down and offered his hand. "I'll help you into the house."

"So, it's gone now? Am I safe to go outside?" Watanuki asked.

Haruka grunted as some weight was accidentally placed on his foot and allowed himself to lean against Doumeki. "Yes, it's gone, and you should be safe to leave. You'll need to go out, in fact. I won't be able to make it to the hydrangea bush like this. You and Shizuka will need to take care of it."

"What? How do we do that?"

"We'll worry about that in just a bit. At the moment, we should rest and get food."

"Huh, I am really hungry," Doumeki realized. Famished, in fact. Odd, as he had just eaten not very long ago. "I want fried chicken and potato salad."

"Ooh, good suggestion," Haruka agreed as they limped along to the house. "Exorcising spirits works up a real appetite."

"Fried chicken? Do you know how long that takes! And potato salad, too! I'll be in the kitchen for hours!"

"Then best make a cake while you're at it," Doumeki added helpfully. "I want chocolate."

"With strawberries on top," Haruka supplied helpfully.

"_Aargh!_" Watanuki despaired.


	18. Chapter 18

Haruka stuffed the crutches under his arms and tested moving with them. He hadn't been injured like this for many years and he'd never even needed crutches on those few times he had been. They seemed solid enough and he could get by until his ankle healed.

"Who knew these crutches would end up getting so much use," Akane mused aloud. "And to think just a few days ago I was contemplating throwing them out."

"Lucky you didn't," Haruka agreed. "With the Old One dead we shouldn't have any more dangerous encounters. Hopefully we won't need them once I'm done with them."

Akane closed the closet she had retrieved the items in question from and looked at her father. "Didn't you say there are more of those spirits out there? Will any more look for Kimihiro-kun?"

"I should think not," Haruka replied. "The spirit world keeps a close eye on the happenings between them and us. A strong message has just been sent to all of them to leave that boy alone lest they encounter the same fate. I expect a long period of quiet to come."

"I'm glad," Akane sighed and helped her father to the kitchen. "I have been so worried."

A few feet from the kitchen and they caught sight of the boys. Doumeki was currently wrapping his arms around his partner and holding him very close. He looked intensely relieved.

"Shizuka," Watanuki could be heard mumbling into his chest in protest. "The food will overcook."

"Hn," Doumeki grunted. He didn't let go.

Akane smiled, slightly surprised. "I've never seen Shizuka-kun show so much emotion before. He really was worried," she whispered to her father.

"Kimihiro-kun is a good match for Shizuka," Haruka agreed. "He brings out your son's best qualities."

They made their presence known in the kitchen, which allowed Watanuki to wriggle out of Doumeki's hold and finish with lunch.

Once they were done eating Haruka knew he couldn't procrastinate saving the hydrangea bush any longer. "Shizuka-kun, Kimihiro-kun, I will need the both of you to take care of purifying the hydrangea bush, as was originally promised to Ame-Warashi-san."

"What are we supposed to do?" Watanuki asked. "I don't even know where to begin."

Haruka smiled easily. "I'm sure you'll do just fine. You both will need something of value, though." He turned his gaze to his daughter. "Akane-chan, do you still have the temari balls you made a while ago?"

"Oh, you mean the ones I attached to ribbons? Yes, I believe so. Just a moment I'll go get them." The woman got up and hurried to her bedroom to retrieve the traditional gifts.

Doumeki pushed the last piece of sushi in his mouth as he waited for his mother to come back. "What will we need those for?"

"Your mother put many temari balls on her ribbons, so that they would both ring like a bell and hold a wish for your future. They are good things to have for a mission like this."

Akane came back to the kitchen and set two items on the table. Each ribbon was long and blue. At the ends of the ribbons were two small decorative balls made in the traditional fashion with bits of patterned silk and fine stitch work. One on each of the ribbons made a faint tinkling noise as it was set down. "I know it must look silly to have them on ribbons," Akane admitted, "but Shizuka was often surrounded by many people during the New Year's festival here at the temple, so I would tie the ribbon to the side of his obi on his kimono. If he happened to drop the temari balls he would not lose them in the crowd."

"That's... actually really smart," Watanuki realized. "I must have lost dozens when I was little."

"One for each of you," Haruka instructed them. The boys each took a ribbon. "Take Mugestu with you. The hydrangea is located in the center of the park."

"But he's so large!" Watanuki exclaimed. "People will see him!"

"Only those that are meant to," Haruka grinned. "You should go before it gets any later."

"What are we supposed to do once we get there?"

"You'll know what to do once you're there," Haruka said cryptically. "Good luck, boys."

. . . . . . .

Watanuki was admittedly jumpy as they walked through the park to the flower bush. Even though they had triumphed over something so awful he still worried there were be more trouble yet from the spirit world. Years of habit did not leave so quickly.

"Relax," Doumeki told him. "You're not going to get attacked."

"Easy for you to say, you've never had your head stuffed halfway down a spirit's throat," Watanuki groused. He folded his arms and shuffled a little closer. "I don't like parks. Too many weird emotions everywhere. Spirits feed on those, you know."

"Hn."

They rounded a turn in the sidewalk and came upon the large hydrangea bush. "It's huge!" Watanuki said in shock.

Indeed, it was larger than the trees next to it. "I've never seen one so big before," Doumeki agreed.

"Are some of the flowers supposed to be red like that?"

Doumeki stopped looking up at the heights of the tall bush and looked down to where Watanuki was pointing. Mugetsu sniffed at the flowers in question and whined, apparently finding something wrong with them. "I've only seen them be white or purple, but not red like that." The flowers near the bottom of the bush were nearly the color of blood.

Watanuki walked a little, not sure what to make of the situation, before he felt something tug at his pant leg. He looked down and noticed a branch had caught him. He knelt down and tried to untangle it. "Careful," he said to the plant. "I don't want to pull any flowers out, so let me untangle this."

Doumeki watched, felt his heart stop, and did not feel it start back up right away. One moment, Watanuki was kneeling on the ground right next to him, then next he was gone. All he did was blink and without even a noise the boy was suddenly missing.

Mugetsu called out in its strange, lonesome melodic voice and poked its nose under the bush, tails twitching in agitation.

Doumeki fell to his knees and looked under the bush, but he didn't see anything either. "Kimihiro!" He yelled, hoping the idiot merely was on the other side or stuck somewhere underneath. He heard nothing at all.

Mugetsu started digging with its long sharp claws at the earth. Doumeki followed the action, now realizing that those red flowers were a lot more malicious than previously assumed.

It wasn't fair, it just _wasn't._ He worked so hard to save him from the Old Spirit that had killed the boy's parents, injured his own leg and nearly ended Watanuki's life so recently. It wasn't fair to lose him like this, so quick and silent he could have pretended nothing had happened at all.

It started raining very heavily. The earth turned to mud under Doumeki's hands and his jinbei was turning black with dirt. He ignored the weather and kept digging, and he ignored the sharp jab of pain whenever his fingers cut across a hidden rock or root in the ground.

Mugetsu pushed against him suddenly, distracting him from his wearisome task. Doumeki tried to move against the creature and keep working but the fox was persistent as it nosed his pocket. "What?" He finally asked.

Mugetsu cooed and nosed his pocket again.

Doumeki shoved a dirty and shaking hand into his pocket and extracted the temari balls and ribbon his mother had given him earlier. His hand made a fist around the pale blue material. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Mugetsu made a show of sitting on its hindquarters and patiently staring ahead. The spirit flicked its tails and looked back at him, confirming if the instructions were understood.

"You want me to... wait?"

Mugetsu cooed again, then lowered itself to lay down and rested its head on its crossed front paws.

Doumeki felt helpless, unable to take any action at all to retrieve the boy, but the fox had not failed them before, so he sat on his knees, clutched the ribbon and bells, and waited.

Rain pelted him for what felt like hours. He didn't know what to think as he sat in the rain, worrying over and over again that maybe this time he wasn't going to get Watanuki back. His stomach turned over itself unpleasantly, painfully even. He was certainly hungry as the sun began to set but he was so stressed he wouldn't have been able to eat anyway.

Mugetsu scooted closer to him and nosed the end of the ribbon where the two balls were sewn in place. The one bell jingled slightly. Doumeki lifted the item in his hand and listened as it jingled some more. He wondered if it would be loud enough for Watanuki to hear it, wherever he was. Restless and tired all at one Doumeki wiggled the ribbon and listened to the sound. He wished harder than he ever had in his life that Watanuki would hear him and come back.

After about ten minutes he gave up and his arm went still again. Full darkness had descended and if Doumeki could see the sky above the clouds he knew the moon would have been high.

Mugetsu pulled at the ribbon again and made it chime.

Doumeki lifted his hand back up. "Does he need to hear this?"

Mugetsu cooed and batted at the end of the ribbon. It chimed merrily in the dreary weather.

He was so tired... Doumeki shook his head to wake himself up and shook the ribbon again so it the temari ball made more noise. He kept at it again, but it still felt so futile. Just as he was about to drop the bell again the ribbon suddenly tugged tightly at the other end. Doumeki tightened his grip and watched with alarm as the balls disappeared under the muddy ground. The tugging felt like something had grabbed it from the other end and was engaging him in a tug of war game.

Doumeki would not lose.

Mugetsu bounced to its feet and started poking its head underneath the bush. White and red flowers shivered as the spirit moved them aside, petals falling to the ground in a damp mess. Doumeki didn't move until he felt the tension melt away from the ribbon. When it did he darted to where Mugetsu was and finally, after so many hours of nervous waiting, he found Watanuki, pale and skin damp with the cold, laying on the ground just under the bushes. "...What?" The boy asked.

Doumeki's strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him out of the bush and held him tightly.

"Shizuka, what are you doing?" Watanuki complained. "I'm fine, hey! Let me go!"

"Oh, shut up," Doumeki managed. The tension in his chest finally started to loosen. "I'm so tired."

"What, tired? Why?" Watanuki looked around them and noticed the lack of light. "What time is it?"

"Late. Past midnight. I don't know," Doumeki sighed.

Mugetsu cheered with a call and nuzzled Watanuki's cheek. "Has it been raining this whole time?" He noticed the hands around him were dirty, bloody and scratched. He must have been under there for hours. Strange, how it only felt like a few minutes for him.

"Don't do that to me again," Doumeki said huskily.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Watanuki huffed.

Doumeki did not bite back as he normally would. Watanuki felt his anger fizzle out as he noticed this. Doumeki was actually, visibly distressed whenever he was in danger. He was overcome with the guilt he felt, knowing he had caused such trouble. "It's not my fault," he mumbled. He turned into the hug and returned it. It didn't matter that Doumeki was soaked through and his clothes smelled like mud. "But I'll try, okay? I'll try not to do that."

The arms around him shook with exhaustion. "Good."

. . . . . . . .

Watanuki came to learn that Doumeki had been waiting in the rain for him for ten hours. He hadn't moved for anything. Watanuki wondered how he managed to not even go to the bathroom, because ten hours was a long time. It was no wonder he was shaking like a leaf when Watanuki finally emerged from the ground.

As Watanuki bandaged Doumeki's hands the taller teenager learned there was a girl that had died and was nearly buried under the hydrangea bush. Her spirit was afraid to move on and her body was slowly destroying the hydrangeas with its impurity. Watanuki had convinced her to move on in the right direction and not down below where the lost and terrible spirits beckoned her.

Haruka called the local police and informed them about the bones Watanuki had found. The remains were identified as a child that had died six months previous. The police were puzzled at how she wound up under the hydrangeas, but the spirit had now moved on and Watanuki was unconcerned with the rest of the circumstances.

They rested another two days, but school could only be put off for so long. Eventually they had to return.

Watanuki was not looking forward to it.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

_Author's Note:_

_Temari balls are a traditional gift usually made by mothers and given to their children during the New Year's festival. They are a long time tradition in Japan dating back more than a thousand years. They are a treasured gift and symbolize loyalty and deep friendship._

_Temari balls attached to a ribbon meant to keep them in place for a child seemed like a fitting replacement for Himawari's ribbons. Hopefully everyone enjoyed learning about them. Thank you for reading!_

_P.S. - School is about to explode in all the wrong ways..._


	19. Chapter 19

Watanuki woke up early that morning. It was unusual for him to be up just before the sun was, so it must have been the big ball of dread in his stomach that made it difficult for him to sleep any longer. Doumeki, being a naturally light sleeper, awoke right around the time Watanuki was quietly cursing to himself as he got back from the baths.

The school day was ahead of them. Watanuki had an idea of how bad the bullies would be, but he also knew they were going to be worse than ever before. He was certain the entire female student body was going to be angry at him for taking up Doumeki's previous eligibility. The boys were just going to think he was an even bigger freak than he was previously. Quite a feat, really, considering they thought he was the world's biggest freak already.

Doumeki toed on his shoes after the normal morning routine and opened one of the closets near the entrance to grab a broom. He figured he may as well do some sweeping outside before school since they had so much extra time. There was a faint, crisp chill in the morning air.

Watanuki found him after a while sweeping the pathways between the rows of trees near the front entrance. The teenager crossed his arms, still concerned for the day to come. "Oi, Shizuka, hurry up or we'll be late for school."

"So grab a broom and help."

"Tch!" Watanuki scowled. "Lazy bum. You've been out here for a while now, how long does it take to sweep?" He turned sharply on his heel to make his way back to the supply closet to grab an extra broom. Doumeki looked up with a quirked eyebrow as Watanuki started flailing his arms around and danced on foot. He must have tripped on a rock.

The teenager started to tip backward on his unsteady feet and fell into something that felt soft and sticky. Doumeki sighed as Watanuki tried pulled his arms away from the large spider's web he just became caught in. "Hold still, you're just getting more tangled."

"Then help me, Mr. Know-It-All!" He flapped his stuck arms for emphasis.

Doumeki lowered his hold on the broom handle to use it to break the web apart and stepped closer. He reached up just above Watanuki's head and started to pull.

"_Wait!_"

Doumeki froze when his grandfather's hand was suddenly on his arm and restraining him.

"Haruka-san!" Watanuki gasped. "I didn't even see you there!"

"Grandfather?" Doumeki asked, also surprised. The older man seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Haruka looked very concerned and Doumeki wondered what was going on.

"Don't destroy the web yet."

"Why not?" Watanuki asked.

Doumeki lowered the broom handle and waited for his relative to explain the situation.

"Because," Haruka replied to Watanuki. "This isn't an ordinary web." He looked up through the trees, his eyes searching. "Spider-san, I am sure you're here. Please come out."

Blue eyes widened in deep worry. It figured it wasn't an ordinary spider web he landed in.

The lines of thread twitched infrequently as something crawled closer to them. Watanuki may have squeaked when a long black leg extended down from the trees, but if he did he would never admit to it.

More legs followed. The leaves shivered as the large body of the spider moved out from underneath of them. Just the body of the spider alone must have been the size of a basketball.

"Priest," the spider said in greeting, its mandibles spitting the word out in a strange and cumbersome way.

"You've caught something in your web that you should not have," Haruka said, his voice neutral. "I should hope there would be no grudges should we remove him."

"This is _my_ home," the spider asserted. "I do not control who enters my nest. This human boy may not be my usual fare, but I think I can make an exception for him."

"Hey!" Watanuki said indignantly. "I am not your meal!"

Haruka stepped closer to the web and the spider. The large creature made a small hiss of noise and scuttled back a bit higher. "You know the rules on my temple grounds, Spider-san. You are not allowed to make homes in the walkways or living space. I cannot ignore the safety of the people that come and go from here. And yet here we are, with a member of my family caught in your web right in the middle of a rather heavily used pathway."

"But!" The spider scuttled a little higher. "No one has been down this way for days now! Good places to catch food are hard to find!"

"You will release him," Haruka demanded. "And you will do it now. This web cannot remain here. As a gesture of goodwill, I just happen to have a bottle of my sake on hand. You may take it and do with it as you will."

The large black spider was silent for a moment, its many eyes moving around quickly. Watanuki swallowed and prayed this wasn't going to become ugly.

A large spit of web extended from the spider and latched on to the side of the sake bottle in Haruka's hand. The priest released his hold and the item was pulled up into the clutches of the spider's legs. "Fine, I'll let him go." The spider moved quickly around the caught teenager and released him.

Watanuki's body mildly convulsed in an uncontrollable shudder as he stepped away and thought about the large creature being around him just moments ago. He didn't even like bugs and spiders when he was a kid, so seeing something that large was irksome.

Doumeki's arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him roughly into a tight hold. "Hey," Watanuki protested weakly.

"Thank you for your understanding," Haruka smiled at the spider. "Please be well."

"Yeah, fine..." The spider hissed in its strange way of speaking and disappeared back into the trees.

Watanuki stood in a quiet state of shock for a moment. "What... was that?"

"Just a spider," Haruka turned back to them and answered. "But lesser spiders don't have the best of memories, so we had to be careful to remind him of the rules before he put a grudge on one of you for destroying his web."

"What would the spider have done?" Doumeki asked.

They started walking back to the shrine. "A spider has a few different grudges that it can place on a person. The most common grudge is lost vision, maybe even complete removal of an eye. Sometimes they can give you terrible bad luck, or, in extreme cases, frozen limbs."

"Good thing you were there, Haruka-san," Watanuki said with relief.

"A very good thing," Haruka smiled. "That took a bit of time, so you two best hurry before you're late for school."

. . . . . . . .

As soon as they stepped foot on school grounds there were eyes upon them. The hold Watanuki had on his briefcase tightened severely in anxiety. He didn't want to go in.

"Come on," Doumeki said quietly in his ear and pushed gently against his lower back with his hand. "You can't just not go to school."

"Easy for you, you big moron!" Watanuki hissed lowly. "Was there ever a day in your life when you were bothered by bullies? What, no? Oh, good, then shut up."

Doumeki rolled his eyes and kept guiding his partner into school. "Drama queen."

"Neanderthal."

There was a noticeable hush when they entered the doors and walked to their lockers. Doumeki tried to ignore the not-so-subtle whispers as Watanuki stowed away their lunches for the day and grabbed his supplies. It was difficult tuning them out when he kept hearing thinly veiled insults directed at the shorter student.

_Oh __my __god! __They __finally __showed __back __up __at __school! __Can __you __believe __that? __Look, __he's __just __standing __there __next __to __him __and _touching _him!_

… _I __thought __the __rumors __from __the __library __had __to __be __made __up! __There's __no __way __Doumeki-kun __would __want __to __be __with __a __freak __like __Watanuki!_

_I __always __knew __there __was __something __wrong __with __Watanuki, __I __just __didn't __think __he __could __ruin __someone __like __Doumeki-kun __with __his __weirdness... _

_He's __acting __like __such __a __girl, __he's __even __blushing..._

The conversations around them grew louder and louder.

Doumeki's jaw clenched in anger as they entered the classroom. He had never had a lower opinion of the students of this school until that morning. He couldn't even imagine lacking that much empathy that he would ridicule someone he didn't even know just for being different.

Watanuki slouched down in his seat and tried to keep his eyes lowered to his homework. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was make eye contact with someone and start up a conversation.

Part way through first period English Watanuki felt the disgusting pings of spitballs hit his head. Each time one landed on him a few of the students behind him giggled. High school kids were disgusting.

By the time Watanuki and Doumeki split up for their different classes just before lunch the taller teenager felt the incredible urge to punch the lights out of the next person that said something cross about his partner.

Not that he didn't hear unflattering things about himself, but he actually didn't care what was said about him. Even the backhanded comment that he probably spent most of his time with his mouth around Watanuki's erection didn't upset him. So what if they thought he 'sucked dick?' Watanuki enjoyed the attention and he felt no shame regarding their private lives. Not that he'd ever give the students the satisfaction of replying to their comments.

No, it was the look on Watanuki's face every time someone said something cruel about him, shot spitballs at him or slapped his books out of his hands. They had no right to do that to the boy, and it made Doumeki very, very angry.

He worried a great deal over Watanuki's well-being as he tried to concentrate in his literature class. The other boy had gym class and the possibility of things becoming violent were too high.

"Psst, Doumeki-kun," someone whispered behind him.

Doumeki turned his head at looked, recognizing the voice as one of the students in the archery club. The boy, Kaseki-san, discreetly held out a folded note for him to take. Doumeki frowned a little but took the paper anyway. When he knew for certain the teacher had not seen them he opened the note and looked at it.

Scribbled on the blank line paper was the chicken-scratch scrawl of Kaseki's handwriting. It read:

_Are __you __serious __about __being __with __Watanuki-san?_

Doumeki's eyebrows furrowed together. He deftly picked up his pen and scribbled back a single word. _Yes._ He turned around and handed the note back. He kept his eyes up front on the distracted teacher and heard the paper rustle behind him as it was opened and read.

A few seconds later and the note was handed back to him. He grabbed it and read through the response.

_Okay. __We __still __want __you __in __the __archery __club, __so __don't __quit, __all right? __And __keep __Watanuki-san __away __from __the __soccer __team. _ _Make __sure __you __both __each __lunch __with __us __today._

_That_ was worrisome. What had the soccer team been saying since he and Watanuki had been gone from school?

Doumeki stuffed the note in his pocket just before the teacher turned around and surveyed the classroom. When he had another moment he looked back at Kaseki and nodded his head in agreement. He really hoped that gym class went well.

. . . . . . . . .

When class let out Doumeki searched the halls for Watanuki but did not find him. He wanted to ask one of the students if they'd seen him but he currently didn't trust any of them outside of the archery club members and he didn't see any of them either.

After a couple of frenzied rounds around the hallways Doumeki stopped in front of the nurse's office and poked his head inside.

Wouldn't it figure he found Watanuki sitting on a chair with a pack of ice on his face? The boy's glasses were conspicuously missing and there was a streak of blood dried against the side of his cheek. Doumeki walked in quickly and touched his arm. "What happened?"

"Oh, the usual," Watanuki said, his voice muted as if his nose was being pinched. "Basketball game in gym class, ten feet away from the ball and yet three people found the need to knock me over. My glasses fell off and were stepped on, and when I stood back up I got a face full of basketball and a nice bloody nose."

Doumeki sighed and took a seat next to him. "Is anything broken?"

"No, _luckily,_ those stupid jerks didn't break anything. It didn't help my nosebleed when they kept laughing at me, though."

"I'm sorry," Doumeki felt the urge to say.

"All I can say is I told you so," Watanuki groused and leaned his head further back. "Ugh... I hate the feeling of blood running down my throat. It's gross."

"It's lunch time," Doumeki said. "Are you going to be able to eat anything?"

"Not for a while." Watanuki closed his eyes and sighed loudly. "Go eat. I'll meet you in class, if my nose stops running. Not that I'll be able to _see_ class, mind you, with my glasses broken."

"Do you have a spare set?"

"Hah!" Watanuki laughed sarcastically. "A spare set! Do you know how expensive those are? I can't afford new glasses."

"Then we'll go to the eye clinic tonight and order a new pair for you."

"With what money?"

Doumeki looked at Watanuki quietly and waited for his blue eyes to open. After a few seconds of silence Watanuki looked over at him with a disgruntled _what? _"We're not letting you go blind," Doumeki explained.

"I'm not a leech!"

"You are a moron, though."

"Pot calling the kettle-"

"Oh, Doumeki-san," the nurse interrupted as she walked back into the main office proper. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better! And Watanuki-san, too, aside from his nosebleed." She walked over and gently pulled the ice pack away from Watanuki's face. "The swelling is looking better, Watanuki-san. In a few minutes you should be able to return to lunch."

"Thank you, sensei," Watanuki mumbled, his voice still muted. "I'll be fine."

The woman smiled and handed him another moist towel to dab at the dried blood still on his face. She grabbed a clip board from a counter and walked back to one of the other rooms. "As long as you stay away from the soccer team," Doumeki added belatedly.

"What? What about the soccer team, what did they say?" Watanuki asked worriedly.

Doumeki stood and shrugged. "Dunno, just a warning I got today."

Watanuki groaned in frustration.


	20. Chapter 20

Replacement glasses were ordered for Watanuki that night after much protesting that he couldn't allow Doumeki's family to pay for them. Doumeki's mother had only laughed and called him silly but cute.

This business of being called 'cute' was starting to happen a little too often upon reflection...

School only continued to get worse. The new glasses wouldn't be delivered for a few days at least and making his way through class everyday mostly blind was nearly impossible. Watanuki started to have headaches every day and Doumeki spent a great deal of his time keeping from the shorter boy from running into things. He hadn't realized just how bad Watanuki's vision was until the night he needed someone to tell him what the measurement sizes were on his teaspoons while cooking dinner.

The bullies, of course, did not let up even for a moment. Five times already in just two days the archery team had to step in and prevent a group of students from landing punches on him.

One afternoon found Watanuki all alone as he tried to locate the correct book that he would need for his literature class. Not that he would be able to read it, of course, but he still needed one for appearances' sake. Sometimes if the text was large enough he could move his face so close his nose was nearly touching the paper and see what was written, but this technique just caused his headache to worsen. Probably why he didn't notice the group of people stalk up to him as he closed his locker because the pounding in his skull tended to drown out most other noises.

"Still blind, boy?"

Watanuki turned around sharply at the harsh tone and tried to squint his eyes to see. Judging by the voice it was Fujimoto Hiroto, one of the boys from the soccer team. Six blurry shapes were probably more of his friends with him. Watanuki held his book tightly to his chest and made to leave. "Excuse me."

He felt hands push at his shoulders roughly the moment one of his feet moved and his books slapped away from his arms and fall around his feet. "I asked you a question, fag, don't ignore me!"

Watanuki rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Yes, I'm still blind. Please excuse me so I can get to class."

A couple people that sounded like they were behind him chuckled. "Hey, you think fags still have a pair?" A different boy asked.

Watanuki felt his temper rise as the others laughed more.

"Worth finding out, I say," Fujimoto said with a grin in his voice.

Watanuki only had enough time to take a breath before he felt hands grip his arms and shoulders and felt a fist punch itself right into his stomach. He gasped at the shock and felt the air leave his lungs. Doumeki had warned him the soccer team was bad news. Watanuki had wanted to believe that they weren't going to become violent, but clearly those hopes were thoroughly trashed. Another sharp punch to his gut and Watanuki suddenly had the urge to throw up his lunch.

"Fight back, faggot! Maybe you really don't have any balls!"

Watanuki was too busy trying to keep his food down and regain his breath to respond. Another hit, this one directly to his chest, sent the teenager to his knees. He'd never felt the air in his lungs so forcefully _removed_ like that before. Breathing in hurt in a place it never had before.

"That's enough!" Someone barked into the laughing crowd. Watanuki sighed in relief when he recognized it as Kaseki-san from the archery club. The blurry shapes around him moved quickly and he heard the scuffing of rubber soles scraping on tile floor. A few people cursed at each other, then there were hands pulling at his arms and helping him stand.

"Pussies!" Fujimoto taunted them. "The freak can't even defend himself!"

"Neither can a lot of things, doesn't mean you should go punching everything," Kaseki bit back.

The teenager tried to stand all the way but the muscles in his abdomen were still in a lot of pain. He leaned over and put his hands on his knees and concentrated on slow and steady breaths. A pair of arms wrapped around him gently and he heard Doumeki's voice in his ear.

"Are you all right?" Doumeki asked him.

"Fine, _fine!_" Watanuki growled. He pushed the taller teenager's arms away. "Don't coddle me."

One of the shapeless forms stood in front of him. Watanuki thought perhaps he could even make out the large red logo on the shoes of the student standing there. "You all right, Watanuki-san? Those were some hard hits! I'm surprised you didn't throw up!"

"I feel like I'm about to," Watanuki admitted. "Thanks once again."

"Don't mention it," Kaseki replied easily.

"We'll be late for class," Doumeki remarked. "We should all go."

Doumeki did not like the way his stomach flipped around so wildly when he and Watanuki had to split up for yet another class. He was starting to contemplate changing his class schedule just so the other boy was never out of sight of him while being within easy reaching distance of someone out to hurt him. He mentioned that idea to Watanuki that night, who predictably threw a fit. It was moronic of Doumeki to change his schedule when he needed certain classes for college, and dammit all Watanuki couldn't live in Doumeki's shadow his whole live and why, oh, _why_ did his life have to revolve around Doumeki?

Instead, Watanuki had a better idea. Perhaps he should start taking self-defense classes. If Doumeki was so damned good a judo perhaps he better start teaching his partner. Doumeki realized that probably wasn't such a bad idea, so long as Watanuki's glasses never fell off.

Damn his terrible vision.

. . . . . . . . .

Watanuki rubbed the bridge of his nose in a now familiar fashion and tried to push the headache back just a little. His eyeglasses were supposed to be ready for him in the evening at the eye clinic and he, for one, couldn't wait to get them back. He was already falling desperately further behind in his homework. Doumeki was at least kind enough to read aloud the questions for things, like history questions, math homework and verb worksheets and write down Watanuki's answers for him, but that could only help him so much. It was too much work for Watanuki to try and speak out loud an entire term paper, for example, and those were coming up in just a couple of weeks.

Doumeki opened Watanuki's locker for him which allowed the other to shove his head partly inside and inspect his damnable text books for the one he would need for English that morning.

Huh, that was strange. He didn't remember putting anything unusual in his locker the night before. Watanuki puzzled over the small round thing that was on the top shelf. He picked the item up and brought it close to his face to examine it. It was white and felt a little like melted sugar glass. It was a sphere shape and about the size of a soft ball. "Shizuka, did you put this in here?"

"Hm?" Doumeki asked, not really paying attention to what the other was doing.

"This," Watanuki said again. He'd never seen anything like it before. "I don't know what this is."

Doumeki examined the object as well. It didn't look very remarkable. "I don't know either."

His fingers squeezed just a little around the object, then everything shattered. Students heard the scream from three halls over.

Doumeki watched horrified as the item burst in Watanuki's hand and showered anything nearby in a clear spray of liquid. Watanuki screamed, blood-curdling and loud. He clutched his eye and collapsed to his knees, shouting and shaking violently. "_Oh __god,__it __burns!_" Doumeki reacted quickly. He pulled Watanuki up and rushed with him quickly to the chemistry lab. He forgot how to breathe as his partner kept shrieking in agony.

Students eyed them in avid curiosity and Doumeki pushed Watanuki's head over the eye wash station and pulled the cord. A flood of water rushed up to meet his covered face. The taller teenager carefully moved Watanuki's hand down to reveal the boy's right eye that was swollen shut so that it could get hit directly by the running water.

Watanuki continued to sob, even as the water started washing away the acid on his skin.

_Oh, __what __happened? __Someone __hurt __Watanuki __again?_

_I've __never __even __seen __someone __use __that __thing __before..._

_What __do __you __think __it __is?_

_Who __knows... __they __might __just __be __looking __for __attention..._

_No, __this __seems __serious..._

Doumeki concentrated on removing Watanuki's black school jacket and ignoring the curious students in the room. The black material on the front of it was faded and splotchy as though someone had splashed bleach on it. The boy's sleeve was also colored strangely and still touching the skin of his wrist. Watanuki did not fight him as he removed the boy from the garment.

"Watanuki-san!" Fai-sensei asked worriedly. "What happened? Doumeki-san, was he exposed to something toxic?" The blond instructor moved around them and tried to get a good look at Watanuki's face without moving him away from the water.

"Acid!" Doumeki said, more loudly than he'd meant to. "Someone put a ball of acid in his locker!"

The volume level of the partially filled classroom rose significantly at this. It was big news.

Someone was laughing quite loudly just outside of the classroom's door. Doumeki looked over, his hand still on the back of Watanuki's neck and keeping the boy next to the cleansing liquid, and saw Fujimoto pointing at them with a smug grin.

"I told you!" Fujimoto said to a student next to him. "A fucking pussy!"

Doumeki's vision narrowed down to a single line of red. Something in his brain felt like it broke. A synapse somewhere snapped apart and he was suddenly on auto-pilot. His hands directed Fai-sensei next to Watanuki. "Don't let him move."

"Doumeki-san!" Fai-sensei said in warning, but Doumeki was too angry to hear it.

He moved away from the eye wash station and stalked to the door, his fists clenched tightly. The soccer player's satisfied smirk started to burn a hole in his self-control. "You did this to him?"

Fujimoto popped his collar and grinned, showing teeth. "What are you gonna do about it, huh? My father owns a hardware shop, so I can get a hold of all the poisons I want!" He laughed again, loudly. "Your cock probably broke off up in his ass, cause you're just a pussy too!"

_Crack!_

People around them yelled in shock. The snapping noise of Fujimoto's jaw breaking under Doumeki's fist was enough to make skin crawl. The soccer player hit the wall hard and held his arms up around his face. A satisfying stream of blood started to flow from his lower lip. "B-Bitch!" The boy slurred through his broken jaw. He stood back up fully and took a swing at the tall archery student.

Doumeki ducked the blow and reached around Fujimoto's middle. In one swift move he dropped the student to the ground and twisted his arm up high behind him. There was a frightening amount of joy when he felt the bones in the arm break under his force. This time it was Fujimoto that shrieked in pain.

"Woah, woah! That's enough! Back off, Doumeki!"

Fujimoto started choking because Doumeki's fingers around his neck squeezed as hard as they could.

"Doumeki!"

Kurogane-sensei ran down the hallway and grabbed Doumeki by the scruff of his neck and pulled him away. Apparently, though, that was not enough because the student slipped out of his grip and went back to keep mauling the downed soccer player. The gym teacher hooked his arms around Doumeki's shoulders and struggled to pull him away.

Doumeki was a hell of a lot stronger than he looked, because one moment he was being restrained by the heavily muscled gym teacher, then the next he'd managed to flip the even taller man over and into the lockers on the wall next to them. Kurogane-sensei grunted as his back hit the unforgiving metal. No one had been able to throw him since he was a teenager, so it was jarring to find himself thrown aside like a sack of potatoes. Nothing to be done about it, though. If Doumeki was allowed to continue he was likely going to kill Fujimoto who was already half passed out on the floor. He got back up and tried again, marginally more successful this time as he gripped Doumeki around the middle and lifted him up and away.

By this time there were several teachers and other staff members there. Three more male teachers helped Kurogane keep Doumeki in place while other instructors kept the spectating students aside while Fujimoto was slowly picked up.

"Knock it off!" Kurogane bellowed in Doumeki's ear.

Doumeki trembled as his body sang with adrenaline. "He put acid in Kimihiro's locker! He might be blind now! His jacket was ruined, his skin was bleeding! It was acid!"

If Kurogane had his way he would have let go of Doumeki and let the boy have his way with Fujimoto, but if he wanted to keep his job he'd have to follow the school district's rule of no violence. "We'll deal with that, so knock it off!

"Shizuka!" Watanuki could be heard from inside the chemistry lab.

That was what it took to calm Doumeki down enough to finally move his attention away from the whimpering Fujimoto in the hallway and on to more important matters.


	21. Chapter 21

_Author's Note:_

_Holy Reviews, Batman! I don't think I've ever received more reviews for an xxxHolic fanfic chapter than I did for the last one. I'm glad everyone enjoyed it! As a treat for such wonderful feedback, here's a new chapter right away!_

_. . . . . . . . . ._

Haruka walked down the crowded hallway of the hospital to the room one of the receptionists had told him Watanuki and Doumeki were in. After the very troubling phone call from the school, followed by a thorough rundown of the events that had transpired from one of _several_ police officers and a paramedic that had been called on scene he rushed to the hospital where Watanuki and Doumeki had been taken. The idea that someone was cruel enough to put acid in Watanuki's locker and laugh about it while he was in pain was hard to fathom. Once the teenager's glasses had been broken Haruka knew there was trouble at school, but the boys hadn't said much of anything else regarding more issues. He hadn't known it was so bad.

The police officers had originally wanted to take Doumeki down to the station and hold him for a few hours while the violent affair at school was investigated, but urgings from the teachers and staff convinced them to allow the boy to accompany Watanuki as he was loaded into the ambulance and taken to Central Medical Hospital.

Doumeki Shizuka had never been violent a day in his life, so hearing that he nearly killed a student was a bit of a shock to Haruka's old heart, too.

There was a police officer standing outside of one of the rooms. Haruka checked the number over the doorway and verified it to be the correct place. He nodded to the man in uniform in greeting. "My grandson is inside, may I go in?"

The officer had a badge that said _Monou, __Fuuma_ on the left of his chest, with a gold badge that was the symbol of the Koban police division on his right. The man wore a dark set of sunglasses and had rather long black hair. "Go ahead," the officer replied. He reached over and knocked on the closed door before pushing it open. "Don't mind me, just here for appearances' sake. I was stationed at the school today and saw most of what happened. Doumeki-san has nothing to worry about."

Haruka smiled with some relief. "Thank you, I'm glad to hear it." He entered the room and softly closed the door behind him. He found his grandson sitting near the white hospital bed Watanuki was sleeping in. He was leaning over in the chair with his face in his hands, so his expression was not visible.

The image of Watanuki was heartbreaking. The poor boy's entire right side of his face was covered in bandages. His right hand was wrapped up so thickly his fingers could not be seen, and there were bright streaks of red and tender skin along his neck and upper chest. He looked to be out cold.

"Shizuka-kun?"

Doumeki looked up at his grandfather. His eyes were red as if he'd been crying but there was no moisture on his face or any other evidence of tears. "Grandfather."

Haruka grabbed a chair and sat down. His ankle had healed after a few days and he hadn't needed the crutches for a while. It was nice to not have to worry about them at the moment. He folded his arms together and leaned back in his seat. "I heard a great deal from the school about this morning."

Doumeki's eyes flicked back to look at Watanuki's unmoving figure. "They sedated him. He was in a lot of pain when they brought him in, couldn't even keep him still long enough for the bandages. He's been sleeping for a couple of hours now."

The elder Doumeki sighed, regretful something so terrible happened to the boy. "They said you brought him directly to the chemistry room to flush the acid from his eyes. The paramedic said things would have been a lot worse for him if you hadn't thought so quickly."

"He kept screaming," Doumeki said, his voice a little hollow. "It took a few minutes, but it eventually burned holes in his school jacket. I took it off of him as soon as I saw the color on it was affected by the acid."

The paramedic had told Haruka that this was an extremely corrosive acid. Had it been left on Watanuki's skin for too long it could have burned all the way down to his bones. He would be lucky to get away with some scarring, maybe even disfigurement. There was no telling what the state of his vision was in his right eye.

"Then the person that did this to him revealed himself," Haruka continued. "I hear you almost killed him."

Doumeki lowered his head again. "I don't even remember much if it now. One minute, he's laughing and saying he'll poison Kimihiro soon, then the next Kurogane-sensei is restraining me and Fujimoto is on the ground in a puddle of blood."

Blind anger. Haruka hadn't thought his grandson was capable of such a feat, but clearly he was wrong. Not that Fujimoto Hiroto didn't have it coming, of course. "I heard you broke his arm, his jaw, and he nearly had a tracheal collapse. The paramedic had to put a tube in his throat to help him breathe."

Doumeki did not make eye contact with his relative and answer. He felt guilty for being so violent, yet another part of him, a frightening part of him, was glad of it. If Fujimoto ever made another attempt on Watanuki's welfare Doumeki knew he would do even worse things to the soccer player; things Fujimoto Hiroto would never recover from.

"You also managed to throw the gym teacher. Impressive, by the way. That man is nearly twice your size in body mass. And not just the gym teacher, it took four grown men to restrain you."

Doumeki's hands were trembling, Haruka observed. "Yeah, so I was told. I barely remember that, too."

Haruka leaned forward and tried to get a better look at his grandson's full face. "You're still angry."

"I didn't prevent this. I didn't even try."

"You're also glad you hurt Fujimoto, and you feel ashamed for it."

The teenager was silent for a moment, his eyes closed. "Yes. Yet I'd still do it again."

Haruka smiled softly. "Of course you would. A threat was placed on Kimihiro-kun's life. You should not feel ashamed of wanting to hurt this other boy. It's only natural to seek revenge on someone if it means keeping a loved one safe. What you should be concerned with, however, is keeping your temper under your control. It would have been far safer to incapacitate Fujimoto without harming him. The police were barely on your side after your actions."

"I know." He pushed his face into his hands again and released a shaky sigh. "I've never been so angry before."

Haruka patted his grandson on the shoulder closest to him. "Do not worry about it now. Focus on relaxing. Your body was just exposed to a high level of stress, which can be damaging if it is not handled properly."

Doumeki lowered his hands and looked at his grandfather. "I'm not in trouble?"

"Oh, you are," Haruka said lightly. "The principle has suspended you for a week with a hearing to follow. I'd ban you from practicing your archery for that time if it wasn't a necessary skill for exorcism. Instead you need to spend six hours a day meditating and practicing restraint. This will be more useful for you anyway."

"I understand." Doumeki looked a little more relieved after that. Those were punishments he could handle. Besides, with the uproar at the school it would be foolish of him to go back so quickly. The student body needed some time for the fireworks and rumor mills to settle down before he could attend class in somewhat peace again. The meditation, too, would be helpful. He was also very concerned that he had little memory of attacking Fujimoto. He wanted to have more control, should something even remotely like this ever happen again. "And Fujimoto?"

"The school said they have all the evidence they need, he's going to be expelled."

"Oh." That was a relief.

Haruka looked over Watanuki's form on the bed. "Have the doctor's said how long he needs to stay here?"

Doumeki looked back at the bed and rested his hand under Watanuki's uninjured left one. "They said they want to keep him overnight for observation."

Haruka looked at the watch on his wrist. It was a little past one in the afternoon. "The new blood ward should last much longer than the original twelve hours, but Kimihiro-kun is in no state to test the limits of this."

"I agree," Doumeki replied. "He should wake up soon. He'll need to sign himself out of the hospital."

Damn, Haruka had nearly forgotten that Watanuki was an emancipated teenager with nearly full adult rights. Not being his legal guardian there was no way the doctors would release the boy into his care during such a critical stage in his recovery. Watanuki would have to demand to be released on his own. At least the sedation should wear off soon. "You must be hungry," Haruka commented. "It's far past lunch time."

"I think I have a stomach ache anyway," Doumeki replied.

"It's the stress," Haruka explained. "I'll call your mother and have her bring over food. Kimihiro-kun has a stack of leftovers in the fridge he made recently. You should try to eat."

He nodded in assent. "All right."

Haruka stood up and opened the door to the room. He exited quietly and closed the door, careful to not make too much noise. Officer Monou was still standing outside the door and looking rather bored. He perked up a little as he noticed the older man enter the hallway. "Oh, Doumeki-san."

Haruka met his gaze. "Yes?"

The police officer smiled and pushed his sunglasses a little further down his nose and looked at the priest over the top of the lenses. "A little advice, off the record of course. I know about the brat that hurt that kid in there. Fujimoto Hiroto is the son of Fujimoto Onzu, a very well-known member of the Yakuza. Watanuki-san is well within his rights to press charges."

Haruka raised an eyebrow in interest. "Is that so?"

"My advice? Just mention it, but don't actually seek legal ramifications. The Yakuza, scum as they are, do have a code they need to follow in order to not alienate too many citizens so business can operate smoothly. Onzu will throw a fit at the very idea of police sniffing around his place to locate the stores of acid – illegal acid, by the way, that's not actually meant for public use. Hiroto's been able to sneak by his father's eye before, but if you mentioned 'charges' Onzu will teach his son a lesson he will never forget. Your local Koban would certainly appreciate not having to chase after that punk once he's released from the hospital."

Haruka bowed in thanks. "Thank you very much, Officer. That is very helpful advice."

. . . . . . . . .

When Watanuki woke up all his single left eye could make out was an expanse of white above him. There was a faint 'beep... beep... beep' to the right of him that told him he'd been hooked up to a heart monitor. He hadn't heard one in years. The last time he'd been in the hospital was after a rather nasty spirit attack when he'd been twelve, and it had taken days for him to get better. None of the doctors' efforts helped, though, despite all of the I.V.'s that were hooked into his arm. He turned his head to the side and made out the black blurry figure of Doumeki's head resting against the side of his bed. The sunlight looked low in the room. "Shizuka?"

The person next to Watanuki moved sluggishly, then lifted his head. Yellow eyes blinked in the fading sunlight. "Kimihiro. You're awake."

The skin on his neck stretched painfully with the angle of his head. "Shizuka. How long have I been asleep?"

Doumeki looked at the clock on the wall. "About seven hours."

"Oh." That was quite a while.

"How do you feel?" Doumeki's fingers laced through Watanuki's left hand.

"I'm... tired," Watanuki replied. "I feel sore everywhere." The skin on the left side of his face twitched. "My skin still hurts a lot."

"The doctors want to keep you overnight for observation, but we don't know how many hours the new protection with my blood will last. Grandfather and I don't want to test that with you being hurt."

Watanuki winced. "Okay. I'll tell them I need to go home."

Doumeki brought Watanuki's left hand up and kissed the back of it softly.

"Shizuka," the teenager asked, his only working eye half open. "What happened to Fujimoto-san? I heard screaming and fighting in the hallway."

Doumeki looked at the other side of the room, Watanuki's hand still clutched in his own. "I broke his jaw."

"Really? And you didn't hurt your hand?"

"And his arm."

Watanuki looked at him in shock. "What!" He demanded.

"And I nearly crushed his windpipe. The doctors have a tube down his throat so he can breathe."

"Oh my god!"

The taller teenager lowered his head. "I also apparently threw Kurogane-sensei into the lockers."

"Shizuka!" Watanuki gasped. "Why did you do all that?"

"... I don't remember most of it."

"You don't?"

Doumeki shook his head. "No. Grandfather has grounded me during my one week suspension from school. I have to meditate for six hours a day and learn better self-control during anger."

"You were suspended?"

Doumeki shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere until you're better, anyway. School would be a circus if I went back too soon."

Watanuki allowed his head to fall comfortably back into the pillow. "I... suppose that's true. Just... you got in a lot of trouble for me. Don't do that, okay?"

"Fujimoto won't hurt you anymore."

"Just because someone is terrible it doesn't mean we should be mean right back," Watanuki scowled. "I don't like violence."

"He said he was going to poison you next." Doumeki furrowed his eyebrows at Watanuki. "He really meant to kill you. Are you saying you're fine with letting him go on with those intentions?"

"Well, no, but hurting him so much isn't going to solve much, is it?"

"He'll make a full recovery," Doumeki said, a hint of anger still in his voice. "He's injured now, but he'll be fine. You may _not_ fully recover. You'll be scarred. Your right eye may not even be able to see anymore! Aren't you upset about what happened to you?"

"Of course I am!" Watanuki exclaimed. "I just-! I don't like this, okay! I don't want you to get in trouble, especially because of me! I heard police yelling, and everyone was telling you to stop and I couldn't do anything! I couldn't even see what was happening!"

Watanuki started shaking badly. Doumeki didn't know for sure if the pain medication was having any effect on the way he was processing such stress but it certainly seemed to. He stood up and put his arms around his partner and touched his lips to Watanuki's left cheek near his ear. "I'm sorry. I've been afraid for you. I was very afraid for your safety when the ball exploded in your hands, and I was angry and afraid that Fujimoto would keep his promise and keep hurting you. I snapped." Watanuki's unbandaged clutched at his shirt sleeve. "Please calm down," Doumeki whispered.

"I'm tired," Watanuki's voice trembled.

"Grandfather and mother are in the waiting room. We'll bring you home right away," Doumeki promised.


	22. Chapter 22

"Kimihiro."

Watanuki moaned pitifully and tried not to move. He felt warm hands both on his arm and curved around the left side of his neck. It was very dark and he was so, so tired that all he wanted to do was go back to sleep.

"Kimihiro, please wake up."

Watanuki blinked his one eye open and tried to focus on the face above him, but his abysmal vision gave him nothing to see but more darkness. A slightly darker shadow moved a little. It kind of looked like it was the shape of a head. "Shizuka." He winced after speaking. The right side of his face felt hot, painfully so. The stinging was blisteringly sharp. "Aah..." he gasped in pain.

"Here," Doumeki's voice said above him, soothing and calm. "You need to take this."

The teenager whimpered as the heat on his skin grew and the pain intensified. "What? Nngh... Shizuka, it hurts..."

"That's why you need to take this," Doumeki's voice repeated. "The doctor said you have to take this pill every six hours, so you can sleep through the worst of it." He carefully lifted Watanuki's head and pushed the small pill against his mouth.

Watanuki sluggishly closed his lips around the drug and removed it from Doumeki's hand. He felt the cool, solid lip of a glass pushed against his mouth and sipped the water clumsily. It was difficult to swallow in the position he was in so he ended up coughing a little against the glass. His head was delicately lowered back to the pillow. He felt fingers slip through his hair and a kiss pressed into his temple. "Go back to sleep," Doumeki whispered. "I'll wake you up in another six hours."

He trembled as his body tried to relax again, feeling suddenly cold. "I love you," his drugged up brain bade him say. "I'm sorry."

A gust of breath flew over his ear. "Idiot. Don't say anything. Just sleep."

He was now visibly shivering. His whole body vibrated and his muscles were too sore to continue shaking yet they still did anyway. He felt strange. "Don't leave... don't... please stay with me..."

Doumeki lifted Watanuki's left hand. His fingers and thumbs smoothed the skin over the veins on the shorter teenager's pale wrist. "I'm not going anywhere." He'd never seen Watanuki so vulnerable before, nor so delirious to actually beg Doumeki to stay with him. The stress of seeing his partner in such a state was causing an ache deep down in his chest.

Watanuki's breathing was heavy even as he drifted slowly back to sleep.

Doumeki rested only lightly. It was difficult to fall into a deep sleep with the worry heavy on his mind and the still-there ache swiftly sinking deeper into his gut as he heard Watanuki's pained gasps next to him during the night. In the end he didn't even need to set an alarm to wake up in time for the next dose. He found himself rolling over every half an hour and checking the time. It made for a very fitful rest.

Eight o'clock in the morning Doumeki sat up and reached for the bottle of medication on the short table next to the futon and the pitcher of water he had set down the previous night. He filled the water cup again and sat next to his partner and tried to once again wake him up.

He was still delirious. It took Doumeki three times asking him to open his mouth so he could take the pill before the boy stopped crying enough to listen. It was like his left eye was simply leaking tears of its own accord – once the boy was awake the flow did not stop, even though he was not wracked with sobs.

After he barely managed to swallow down more water he asked Doumeki if it was raining, and if the orange tabby he found in the gutter was still dead, and _oh __god __please __tell __me __I'm __not __dreaming __again. __They're __so __real __sometimes __that __I __get __confused __if __I'm __awake __or __not __and __I __really __don't __want __you __to __be __just __a __dream..._ _I __don't __want __to __die __all __alone __like __that __cat..._

Doumeki urged Watanuki to go back to sleep, his worry increasing with each word the drugged boy uttered. Was he supposed to be this way while on the medication? Once Watanuki's one good hand was not squeezing his tightly enough to cut off the circulation Doumeki got up and went in immediate search of his grandfather and mother.

Haruka was found in the kitchen going over some bills. Perhaps not so surprisingly it looked like he hadn't received much sleep the night before as well. "Grandfather?" Doumeki asked as he neared the kitchen table.

"Hm?" Haruka looked up from the papers before him. He took in the dark look on his grandson's face. "Is anything wrong?"

"I don't know." Doumeki rested his hands on the table and resisted the urge to lean against them. "Kimihiro's been delirious the past two times I've woken him up for his pain medication. I don't think he knows where he is right now and he was worried that I'm just a dream."

Haruka laced his fingers together. "I see. How has his pain been?"

"Really bad, I think. He keeps crying whenever he's awake and gasping as he sleeps."

Haruka stood up from the table and pushed the chair back in place. "I'll call the doctor and see if this is a normal side effect of the medication. I'll get your mother and we'll change Kimihiro-kun's bandages as well." He walked around the table and squeezed his grandson's shoulders just slightly. "I know you are stressed right now, but it is all the more reason for you to go meditate. Keeping calm during the height of anxiety is your goal right now. Don't worry, your mother and I will make sure Kimihiro-kun is all right."

Doumeki didn't look happy at the prospect of not being next to Watanuki while he was in such pain but he relented to his elder's instructions. "I understand."

The priest smiled. "You're a fine young man, Shizuka-kun. I'm very proud of you and Kimihiro-kun both. Let the rest of your family help with your burdens."

Doumeki nodded. "Please tell me if Kimihiro's current state changes."

"Of course I will."

. . . . . . . . .

It figured the doctors weren't surprised at Watanuki's response to the pain pills. Apparently hallucinations were somewhat common. What was _not_ common, however, was there to be any pain at all while he slept. The doctor on the phone had said it was possible, though never recorded before, that some of the hallucinations were manifesting themselves as old and painful memories and that was why the boy was in such duress, but after checking on him Haruka knew it wasn't merely that. The skin that was visible on his face and neck twitched constantly, the red areas visible beneath the bandages growing.

After the phone call Haruka and Akane knelt next to Watanuki to change the bandages on his hand and face. Haruka and his daughter worked in tandem, one carefully adjusting his head while the other unraveled the now soiled gauze.

Akane gasped sharply when the skin underneath was fully exposed. She stifled a choking sob behind one of her thin hands and looked away for a moment. "No, oh Kimihiro-kun..."

The priest was infinitely glad that Watanuki was currently sedated by the drug and Doumeki was outside meditating. He did not want either of them to see what Watanuki's current state was.

The skin on the right side of his face was bubbled and curved, the angry marks weeping and oozing puss. Grooves dipped into the marred flesh and trailed in angry red rivulets down his jaw and neck. His right eye was red and moist and so swollen shut there was no way to open the lids and see the sightless orb beneath. With trembling hands Haruka carefully finished unwinding the bandages on Watanuki's right hand. It was with another great horror that they discovered the limb nearly unrecognizable. His palm was swollen and blistered as well. A piece of bone was visible on the knuckle of his thumb.

"Oh god," Akane sniffed. She felt a tear slip down her cheek. "Dad, what can we do?"

Haruka went over the options in his head. There was very little in the way of magic for what he could do. He wasn't a magician, but some rituals were easier to perform with spirit energy than others. Healing wasn't too far of a stretch for his abilities, but it would be taxing. He could probably remove any signs of scars but he doubted there was anything he could do about the vision in the right eye. "Get me a bowl of ink, a brush, and heated stones. The only thing I can do is a very extreme version of Reiki healing. I've only seen this done once before by a different master of the art when I was much younger, and it left the master sleeping for days. At this point, though, it's the only thing left I can do."

Akane scrubbed the tears from her face and looked to her father worriedly. "Will you be okay?"

"Yes, but if we wait much longer Kimihiro-kun won't be."

The woman stood up swiftly and went to grab the supplies. "I'll be right back."

It was impossible to tear his eyes away from the gory appearance of Watanuki's skin. He'd never seen burns so bad on a person before. It was nothing like the pictures from medical records and photojournalists that worked in war-torn areas of the world. Seeing such damage to a human body in person was horrifying.

Akane was back as soon as the requested stones were heated over a fire. She set the bowl of them next to her father and assembled the rest of the supplies for him.

Haruka immediately set to work. After unbutton the teenager's sleeping shirt he grabbed the calligraphy brush and the small bowl of ink and started drawing the Reiki seals on the injured boy's skin. One on his forehead, one just below his neck, one on each shoulder, one on his heart and one on the inside of his right elbow. Akane watched as her father then placed the heated stones over the drawn ink in order, starting from Watanuki's head and working his way down. Once finished Haruka set the brush down and pushed aside the extra stones. He gathered his concentration and looked over his work, mentally going over the symbols and the stones and making sure he hadn't missed anything. He'd never performed this ritual before. It was something that was supposed to be practiced in great detail and never tried for the first time when desperate, but he was out of other options. If Watanuki's mother's ring and Doumeki's blood was not enough to protect him from spirits at the hospital then he could die even while the doctors performed surgery.

The priest extended his right hand over Watanuki, palm down and close to the boy's heart. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He cleared his mind and extended his senses to feel and recognize the energy in the air, the energy within himself, and the void of nothingness the wound left in the energy and life in the room. Once he had that energy in his grasp and harnessed it, he pushed it out of himself and into the boy in front of him.

Akane sat in silence while she waited for a visible result. Haruka must have sat with his eyes closed and his hand extended for upwards of five minutes. She was starting to wonder if anything would change at all. Just as she was about to open her lips and question her father she jumped, startled, at the sharp noise of a stone cracking.

The small river stone that had been placed on Watanuki's forehead shattered into three pieces. Immediately the redness of his injured skin receded like a current of water, slipping further and further away. As his right eye settled down in size and the scars started to vanish the stone on his clavicle shattered as well. The stones on his shoulders and chest followed in swift order. Finally, after waiting another few minutes with baited breath the last stone crumbled to pieces on his arm. His right hand steadily regrew the correct shape of muscle and skin around his bones. The boy shook once, just slightly, then settled and stilled. All that remained behind of the terrible wounds was bright pink skin still covered with the remnants of puss and small bits of dried blood.

When Haruka opened his eyes his body nearly collapsed. The bowl of ink by his knees spilled over and coated his knees as he slouched to his side and his legs shot out with little control. "Father!" Akane jumped up in worry and hurried over to his side. She pulled his arm around her shoulders and kept him upright. "Are you all right?"

"... Fine," Haruka murmured. "I just... need sleep. Help me to my room."

The slight woman struggled to her feet and pulled her father up with her. The older man stumbled many times as they made their way down the hall towards his bedroom. At certain points she was nearly dragging him, but in the end she managed. She settled her father down in his futon and brought up the blanket for him. "Are you _sure_ you're okay?" She fretted still.

Haruka closed his eyes and allowed his head to settle down fully. "Yes... I'll be all right. Clean Kimihiro-kun's face and hand, then bandage him up again. He's still... still healing. Let him sleep for another day. Gather the broken stones and... toss them... get rid of them. Bury them if you have to, but do not let them touch another living person." He himself was falling asleep quickly.

"I will," Akane nodded. She stood up and closed the door to her father's room. She padded down the hall quietly and reentered her son and Watanuki's room. With great care she cleaned Watanuki's skin clean of the gunk that remained on it and gently wrapped him back up in fresh gauze and a generous layer of anti-scarring medication. She'd have to remind her son to not give the boy the pain medication anymore, considering the terrible side effects he'd been experiencing. With a long set of tongs she picked up the broken pieces of stone and put them in a small bag. She decided she would bury the bag at the far end of the property where no one would choose to dig. She then cleaned up the spilled ink as best she could but there was nothing to be done for the stain on the side of the futon. She'd have to purchase a new one, most likely.

By the time everything was cleaned up and back in order it was late in the afternoon. Doumeki had not been seen since the morning after hearing the explanation from the doctors about the pain medicine, following his grandfather's order to meditate for six hours each day starting that day.

. . . . . . . . . .

"Doumeki-kun?"

Doumeki opened his eyes and allowed them to focus. The late afternoon sunlight had just started to turn orange with evening light. He looked up and found an unexpected person standing before him. "Kaseki-san." He stood up and felt the muscles in his legs protest angrily. He'd been sitting for hours by then in meditation. "Why are you here at the temple?" He hadn't even heard the boy come up to him.

The archery member from school extended a pile of papers and booklets to his peer. "I volunteered to bring you and Watanuki-san's homework to you. The teachers at school had everything for the week compiled for you both."

"Oh, thanks," Doumeki said. He took the papers and tucked them under his arm. He was grateful that his peers in archery at least tolerated his attachment to Watanuki. Kaseki was vocally supportive, which in Doumeki's mind made him one of the only trustworthy people at school.

Kaseki's handsome smile slipped from his face as he asked a question. "How is Watanuki-san?"

Doumeki frowned slightly. "Not well."

Kaseki looked immediately more concerned. "How bad is it? He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, right? Is he still there?"

"No, he's here," Doumeki answered. "He's in a lot of pain, though."

"Can I see him?"

"No," was Doumeki's quick response. He thought about the abrupt answer for a moment. From the look on Kaseki's face it must have sounded callous. "He's not fit to be seen by anyone. He's delirious. The doctors said it's a side effect of the pain medication. He's been hallucinating since last night."

"Christ, I'm sorry Doumeki-kun. I shouldn't have intruded."

"It's all right. It's okay for you to ask." While there wasn't any special emphasis placed on any of his words, it was still clear that by saying _'you'_ Doumeki wasn't saying just anyone could ask, but Kaseki alone. He'd saved Watanuki from a couple of beatings himself, so he had a right to know.

"All right. Well, keep me posted, okay? The archery club is worried for him, too, but I won't tell anyone else how he's doing."

"Thanks again," Doumeki answered. "I'll let you know when he's well enough to see other people."

Kaseki smiled and waved a goodbye before turning around and walking away at a casual pace. Doumeki shook out the numb feeling in his legs and went back inside the house.


	23. Chapter 23

Doumeki practically inhaled his dinner and ignored the inferior flavor of the takeout food. Watanuki's cooking would forever surpass any meal made at even the finest of restaurants. With the poor boy still sleeping Doumeki would have to abide with take out. Even Akane knew her cooking skills were terrible and sometimes it wasn't worth the effort to try again. Especially not this time, with half of her family unable to get up from their beds.

The teenager cleaned his plate and set it in the sink for washing. His mother was at the table and swirled the tea in her cup passively, eating bites of food infrequently as her eyes glazed over an unturned page on the newspaper on the table. "Where's grandfather?" He asked, realizing he hadn't seen his elder since that morning.

"He's sleeping," Akane said, her gaze not leaving the words blurring before her.

"Through dinner?" Doumeki did not remember the last time Haruka had ever missed a meal. "Is he sick?"

"No," Akane shook her head. "He is very tired, though."

"Did he even eat anything?"

The woman set down her cup of tea on the table. "He drank some soup when I woke him an hour ago. I think he will be asleep for many days."

That was alarming. Doumeki sat back down at the table and looked at his mother's troubled expression. "What happened? I didn't hear or feel anything while meditating all day."

"Everything _will _be fine," Akane assured him, "but it will take some time. Your grandfather and I went to change Kimihiro-kun's bandages today and saw the extent of the damage." Her lips thinned and Doumeki felt his heart plunge.

"How bad is it? What did grandfather do?"

"It's not bad anymore." She smiled weakly at her son. "Kimihiro-kun's skin and muscles were nearly gone. The bone of the knuckle of his thumb was visible and there was puss everywhere. He would have needed surgery, but dad said there was a possibility of him being attacked by spirits while in the operating room. So, your grandfather performed what he called an extreme version of Reiki healing. Kimihiro-kun's skin is nearly restored and he won't need the pain medication anymore, but your grandfather said Kimihiro-kun while likely sleep for a while yet – he's still healing. The spell was taxing, and dad said he'd be asleep for days afterward, too."

Doumeki blew out a breath. "Reiki healing isn't supposed to leave the healer tired. It's supposed to simply be the transfer of the natural energy around us and into the person that needs to be healed."

"I know that, too," Akane said. She folded the newspaper back up properly. "This wasn't any form of Reiki I've ever seen, either. The heated stones that were placed on Kimihiro-kun shattered as his wounds were removed. I couldn't even touch the pieces to clean them up – dad said to not let any living thing come in contact with them. I had to use a set of tongs. I can only imagine what would happen to someone if they did touch them directly." She stood up and poured a tall cup of miso soup from the pot on the stove. Doumeki watched as his mother also acquired a cup of tea and a small bowl of rice, all of which she set down on a serving platter on the counter. "Here, take this to Kimihiro-kun. See if he can wake up enough to eat something."

The teenager rose and took the offered food. "He probably needs a bath, too. Is he still bandaged?"

"Yes. I'll get a bowl of hot water and some soft towels. He will need a sponge bath tonight. Later, when the bandages can come off, he'll get a proper bathing."

"Thanks." Doumeki took the platter and made his way down the hall to his bedroom. The shogi door was already slid half way open, which made it easy for Doumeki to use his foot to slide the door the rest of the way over and allow himself easy entrance.

Watanuki looked like he hadn't moved since the previous night. His sleeping yukata was still rumpled, his hair was getting a little greasy and his lips were dry and chapped from not being used. Doumeki knelt down by his side and set the tray to his right. He wondered if the boy would even wake up. He curved his hand around the slope of Watanuki's soft cheek and upper neck and placed his other hand just over the heart softly beating in his partner's chest. Not even a flicker under Watanuki's left eyelid from a dream at the touches.

"Kimihiro," Doumeki intoned soundly. He pushed gently and tried to rouse the boy by moving his body a little. "Kimihiro, wake up."

His left eye flickered for a moment before closing again, then nothing.

"Kimihiro," Doumeki said louder. He did not know if the other teenager was supposed to sleep so soundly after such a rigorous healing session or if perhaps something else was wrong. "Kimihiro, please wake up."

A thin eyebrow furrowed stiffly. "... Nnnnngh..."

"Kimihiro."

One dark blue eye blinked up at him. Dry lips smacked together before sucking in a greedy gasp of air. "Sh...Shizuka..."

"Wake up, Kimihiro." Doumeki smoothed his thumb over his partner's one visible eyebrow and cupped his cheek. "You need to eat."

Watanuki gasped again and his eye closed half way. "I..." His unbandaged hand shook and trembled as it was brought up to rub at his forehead. "What... what time? How long..."

"Only a day." He clutched the trembling hand in his own, willing his warmth and calm to still the quivering limb.

"A day..." He moved his head to the side and closed his one eye. "I... I feel strange." His chest shuddered with breath. "My head... it hurts..." He looked back up at Doumeki, unable to see the features of that handsome face but knew who it was nearly by instinct. Only Doumeki made sandalwood and incense smell of musk and comfort and remembered intimacy. "I'm not... dreaming?" His blue eye pleaded for an answer. "I... must have slept for... weeks? Days?"

Doumeki felt his heart skip a beat as a tear slipped out of Watanuki's eye. He brushed it away quickly with his thumb. "Just a day."

"It feels like it's been forever. I was alone... I missed you..." His hand tightened around the one holding it. "It was awful..."

"You had a bad reaction to the pain pills. You were hallucinating," Doumeki tried to explain. "You're not going to take it anymore. Grandfather made sure you won't need it."

"Shizuka..." He winced as Doumeki deftly lifted him up to a slight sitting position. His partner moved behind him and acted as a wall of support for him to lean against. Arms wrapped around his midsection securely and even though his head swam at the new position he felt infinitely safer. A warm cup of what smelled like miso soup was brought to his lips.

"You need to eat," Doumeki's voice rumbled next to his ear.

"...'M tired," he managed to mumble.

"Please," Doumeki urged.

The glass moved and Watanuki clumsily slurped the soup. A piece of too-tender tofu slipped passed his teeth and practically melted on his tongue before being swallowed. This was not his soup, he realized. Eating was a slow and tedious affair, and in the end he couldn't summon the power to chew any rice. Doumeki was at least glad the soup and tea was completely consumed. By the time he laid Watanuki down proper on the futon Akane came into the bedroom with her promised bowl of hot water and a handful of white cotton towels.

"Will you need help?" His mother asked.

"No, it's fine." Doumeki took one of the towels and dipped it in the water. "Please check on grandfather again."

Akane smiled a little and placed a kiss on her son's head. "I will, and he will be fine."

Doumeki nodded as Akane left the room. His mother closed his door to give the occupants some privacy after bidding them goodnight. Doumeki set to work gently untangling Watanuki from his sweaty sleeping garments. Uncertain hands tugged away the tie to the boy's yukata. The material freed itself under the force of his fingers and the gap over the pale chest widened. With one careful movement at a time Doumeki managed to extract one arm from the robe, then move the boy over slightly and freed the other. He was glad to see the bandages were not soiled already.

"S...S'cold," Watanuki shivered once he was fully exposed to the night air.

"And yet you're sweating," Doumeki replied. He delicately daubed his partner's damp skin with the soaked towel and started to clean him.

"I'm sorry."

The one blue eye was too tired to follow his movements fully as Doumeki dipped the towel back in the bowel of warm water and wrung it out. "Stop talking." It was deeply unsettling to hear the normally lively boy act so meek. Doumeki didn't like it at all.

By the time he'd finished with Watanuki's arms and chest another tear slid down the boy's still damp cheek. He decided it was a good time to wash his face and try to wipe some of the oil in his hair out. He used the towel to soak up the tear drop he didn't want to see and tenderly cleaned the accessible flesh while being careful to not touch the bandages. By now the shaking had stopped but Watanuki's left hand never stopped clutching at the hem of Doumeki's temple robe.

It was going to be difficult to roll him over to his side but it needed to be done. Watanuki needed clean clothes and his back likely needed a wash as well. He'd need to be rolled to his left side. Even though his mother said his skin was healed Doumeki felt uneasy at the thought of putting pressure on the previously injured areas.

Watanuki was practically asleep again as Doumeki carefully tipped him to his side and finally removed the garment left on the futon. Eventually, after what felt like an hour of tense caution and the ache in his chest making him weary, Doumeki finished and wrapped Watanuki up in a clean robe and tucked him back in bed proper. By then all he did was lay down and he was asleep right as his head hit the pillow.

. . . . . . . .

Watanuki came to sometime just after sunrise. Young pink light bathed the room in a soft glow. He moved his right leg to stretch it and found with a little shock just how sore the rest of his body felt. Were his shoulders and rear supposed to be so sore from sleeping for... how long was it? A couple of days or more? He seemed to remember a lengthy period of dreaming that felt like it was longer than that. Maybe he'd been out of it for longer than a few days. He didn't really remember.

The solid warm presence of Doumeki's body to the left of him was a surprisingly huge comfort. He had vague recollections of a deep, soulful ache from missing him while dreaming. Somehow it felt like he'd seen half a dozen other existences where he was alone and Doumeki was nowhere to be found. In some of these dreams Doumeki had died somehow, while in others he'd never been there in the first place. The memories were fuzzy, however, and each time Watanuki thought he remembered a tidbit of information from a dream the details slipped away into nothingness. The longer he was awake the more distant the memory of the dreams became. He was sure within a day he would forget about the details entirely and only be left with the almost-painful heartache they left behind.

Doumeki turned to his side and opened his eyes, suddenly awake as well. Watanuki was sure he hadn't made any noise and didn't think someone could wake up from the feeling of someone looking at them. The other boy rubbed the sleep from his amber colored eyes and tried to wake up some more. "Kimihiro?" He asked. He normally bored voice had a hint of hopefulness in it.

He moved his right hand to rest on his chest and turned his head further to the left. "Shizuka," he said back. He tried flexing his right hand a little. It felt hot, but not painfully so. He was glad for that.

Doumeki sat upright and looked at his partner intently. "How are you feeling?"

"Groggy, tired..." Watanuki started. He shifted his leg again. "Also restless." His body did not want to be in this position anymore. He puzzled as Doumeki blew out what seemed to be a sigh of relief.

"You're not in pain, then? Do you know where you are?"

He furrowed his eyebrows together. "What? What kind of question is that? Of course I know where I am! We're in your bedroom!"

"Our bedroom," Doumeki automatically corrected. He almost smiled.

"Quit picking semantics and answer the question!"

A hand buried itself in Watanuki's hair. "You had a bad reaction to the pain medication. You were delirious and you hallucinated all day yesterday."

"I... I did?" How strange that he remembered none of this. Embarrassing, too. He could only imagine what nonsense he must have uttered.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I..." He frowned and tried to pull the last real memory he had from the drudges of his hazy mind. "The hospital, I guess. You said you were suspended for a week. Then, after that..." He shook his head. "Nothing after that."

"You don't remember signing yourself out of the hospital?"

Watanuki frowned and shook his head. He had no memory of that at all. He had a vague impression of warm and solid arms around him and the humming noise of a moving vehicle just after the hospital, no scenery to go with it, or voices or other noises. "What did I do when I was reacting to the medication?"

Doumeki held Watanuki's left hand and fiddled with the ring on his partner's finger. "You slept a lot. When you did wake up you kept crying."

"What? No way! What would I cry for?" A sinking feeling in his gut told him this seemed entirely plausible, considering the terrible dreams he'd had.

Doumeki shrugged, his expression blank. "You asked about a dead cat you found in a gutter, and wanted to know if I was a dream." He laced his fingers through Watanuki's. "You would hardly eat anything."

At the reminder of his recent lack of food his stomach growled loudly. "Oh." He also hadn't wanted anyone to know about that stupid cat. It was a low time for him. He was convinced he would die all alone, too, and at the moment it seemed perfectly natural to happen to him. He had no friends at the time at all and no one that said they loved him. It was during those miserable years it was very easy to wish for an end to it all.

Doumeki went to place the hand he was holding on his partner's chest to stand. "I'll go get you something to eat."

His large and calloused hand started to leave and for some strange, unexplainable reason Watanuki's grip latched back onto Doumeki's wrist as a sense of alarm and urgency tightened his throat. "Wait!"

The taller teenager sat back down fully at looked at him, an eyebrow raised slightly in concern. "What's wrong?"

What _was_wrong with him? Watanuki was puzzled at his response as well. He decided to chalk it up to leftover emotions from his prolonged nightmares. "I...I'm tired of being in this position. Help me sit up?"

Doumeki got to his knees and moved behind his partner. He hooked his arms under Watanuki's shoulders and lifted the boy upright, just as he had the previous night. Feet kicked at blankets that tangled themselves around his legs as he tried to push for more leverage. His head swam dizzily from laying down for so long. He didn't think he'd be able to stand on his own. "Crap." He felt Doumeki's arms wrap securely around his chest.

"What?"

He sighed. "My head hurts. I'm not going to be able to stand." Shuffling movement behind him alerted him to the fact that Doumeki was moving things. After being jostled around gently and briefly he felt himself lowered down to a stack of pillows. He wasn't as upright as he was in Doumeki's hold, but it was better than lying flat.

"I'll be right back with some breakfast." He kissed his partner softly on the forehead.

"Thank you," was all Watanuki found he had the will to say. He wondered if someday Doumeki's unending affection would stop baffling him so.


	24. Chapter 24

Watanuki sat sullenly on the edge of the closed toilet seat in the bathroom and leaned lightly against Doumeki's shoulder for support. It had been two days since he regained coherency after his bad reaction to the pain medication and he'd been spending most of that time sleeping. He still felt a little disoriented but at least he could now stand up without passing out.

Doumeki held a thin wrist in his hands. His fingers hovered over the dirty bandages he was about to remove. "Are you ready?"

His closed his left eye, his face drawn. "Y-Yeah... just take it off." He was afraid to see what was underneath. He'd been told that Haruka had healed his skin, but it still felt hot and tight ever since he'd woken up.

With a breath Doumeki began the task of unwinding the material. He moved at an agonizingly slow pace, always careful and never pulling. It was a few seconds before Watanuki realized his eye was still closed and yet there was no move movement from Doumeki anymore. He opened his uncovered eye and inspected his hand warily. His new glasses currently sat over the bandages that covered the bridge of his nose and his right eye but at least his left could see normally. "My hand looks... fine. A bit red, I think, but not bad." The skin was bright pink, like newly healed flesh just exposed from under an old scab. It was so smooth he could scarcely see any pores.

"Does it hurt?" Doumeki touched the skin softly with his finger. It even felt unusually smooth.

"Not really, just a little sore I guess." He breathed a sigh of relief. His face should be fine then, too. He used his free hand to take off his glasses. "All right. Last one." He could feel the heat of his partner's hands as they framed his face and started to unwind the coverings.

Once finished Doumeki tossed the used bandages in the trash can next to them. "Ready to look in the mirror?"

"...No," Watanuki admitted, but he stood up anyway. He kept his hand over his right eye, afraid to open it yet and have proof that his vision might very well be gone. He had been warned it was a possibility. He stood on wobbly feat and looked at the mirror. The right side of his forehead looked just like the skin of his hand, smooth and shiny. He moved his hand aside and studied his closed eye. Any swelling that might have once existed was gone. Everything looked to be in good order, aside from the pink color of the otherwise pale skin. With a deep breath Watanuki opened his right eyelid.

Nothing in his vision changed. Everything was still dark on the right side. He moved closer to his reflection and tried to study his eye. He felt a fresh wave of horror wash over him. "It's... It's..." His knuckles turned white as he balled his fists. His whole body trembled. "I can't..."

Doumeki caught sight of it just before Watanuki lowered his eyes and ducked his head. The sightless right eye was pure white. Thin, grayish circles left small markings where his iris and pupil were supposed to be, but any actual color was missing. Watanuki was blind in his right eye.

"Oh god..." His hands reached up and covered his face, perhaps trying to hide the evidence of his new, permanent injury from the painful truth the mirror revealed.

Doumeki wrapped his arms around his partner before the boy could stumble away from the mirror and out of his reach. Firmly but carefully he cupped Watanuki's cheeks and turned the boy's face to meet his own.

He was shaking, still dumb with shock and he had no idea what to say or do, because _nothing could fix this_, and _why_ was Doumeki insisting on looking at him like this? What could he possibly hope to gain by studying his dead eye?

"Marry me."

Watanuki's shaking stilled for a moment as he registered what was just said. Doumeki's hawk-like yellow eyes stared at him intently, penetrating and serious. "What?!" That's all he could say. Why couldn't he think of anything else to say? His brain felt like it had run into a brick wall and was still reeling and stunned from the impact.

"Marry me." Doumeki repeated again.

"But…" Was his token protest, because it was habit by now to always protest what Doumeki said. Why couldn't they get married? There had to be a good reason. Watanuki knew he'd spent a lot of time thinking about this before and always seemed to find a few good reasons why, so how was it he couldn't think of anything now? "We're still in school," he managed to say.

"When we graduate, then. When we are of age."

Watanuki breathed through his mouth and folded his fingers around Doumeki's wrists. His partner was still holding his face and looking at him. It was almost like there was a challenge in his expression, daring the other boy to try and move away. _Why would he want to be with me? I'm the one always causing trouble, always making him worried, and always causing problems at school._

Haruka's voice entered his thoughts and reminded him. _My grandson loves you more than anything else in this world. He has chosen to protect you and keep you safe._ The thought was still alien to him. Just the idea that someone would want to endure such much trouble just to love and be with someone else had to be only fairy tale. No one else had ever bothered to care for him so much since his parents died. _I'm really lucky,_ he suddenly realized. Really, really lucky that Doumeki found him when he did and decided to help him and, even stranger still, fell him love with him so quickly. He was really lucky that Doumeki's family was so accepting and exactly what he needed to stay alive and feel like he actually belonged to something that mattered again. He belonged to a family. "When we're older," he heard himself agreeing.

The tension fled from the taller boy's frame and his shoulders relaxed. Doumeki's hands slid around Watanuki's cheeks to the back of his neck and shoulders and pulled him as close as possible and kissed him. Doumeki hugged him afterward. He locked his partner in his arms as close as he could manage and pressed his face into the side of Watanuki's neck. "We'll find a way to fix this. Trust me."

_That's impossible,_ was the instinctual reply in his head. It had to be impossible. His sight was gone and the eye would never be healed. But, then again, everything about Doumeki was impossible. His food requests were impossible, his ability to protect a spirit magnet were impossible, his freakishly tall height was impossible and his unending devotion was impossible. Perhaps if there was someone who could find an answer to this it was in fact Doumeki. "Y-you probably won't find much," Watanuki said quietly.

"I won't stop looking until I find an answer."

"You're impossible." He hid his face in Doumeki's warm chest.

"Yeah."

It wasn't until after the bath had been drawn and Watanuki was trying not to fall asleep in the blissfully warm water that he realized what Doumeki had done. Somehow his one simple request had managed to completely sidetrack the despair that Watanuki was going to throw himself into. Instead of allowing his partner to dwell on the results of the acid injury Doumeki successfully diverted his attention to think about something good, and something that was to happen in the future. He had also finally gotten the answer he was looking for. Watanuki had put up token protests before regarding the subject. He'd never actually taken it seriously before. He still didn't quite have his head wrapped around the whole idea, but at the moment he was far too fatigued to care. Doumeki loved him, was worried for him, and despite all the trouble he caused wished to spend the rest of his life with him.

Perhaps he should make a cake soon. A large chiffon cake with pink and yellow frosting. Those were spring colors, and he knew those were Akane's favorite shades. Doumeki didn't care what color something was as long as it tasted good, and Watanuki was pretty sure he would eat an entire chiffon cake if his partner was the one to make it. Haruka would probably eat just as much as Doumeki would try to. Perhaps, he thought, he should make two chiffon cakes.

. . . . . . . . . .

"Kimihiro-kun!" Akane exclaimed. She nearly dropped the cup of tea she had just poured herself in the kitchen. "You're up! Oh, I'm so glad to see you awake!" She set down her tea and rushed up to him and enveloped him in a hug. The teenager had just entered the kitchen for the first time since he'd been brought home. He still wasn't standing up all the way and appeared a little unsteady on his feet.

Watanuki blushed and returned the hug a little uncertainly. "Akane-san! Really, there's no need to fuss. I'm okay." He tried to smile as Doumeki's mother smoothed his hair back and inspected his face and hand for any injury.

"Don't be silly. Of course there's need to fuss. I've been so worried for you." She cupped his face and frowned at the patch that covered his right eye. Watanuki's hair was still wet from the bath. "Is your eye still sore? Were you able to open it at all?"

"…I…" The teenager hesitated.

"It's all right," Doumeki's voice said from behind him. "You should show her."

Akane looked on worriedly as Watanuki's face drained of the little color it had. "A-all right." He took off his glasses with shaky hands. He folded the glasses down and clutched the spectacles in one hand while his other touched the gauze patch on his face.

"Kimihiro-kun?" Akane questioned with concern.

"Please don't be upset, Akane-san. I-it could have been a lot worse." His face flinched in reflex as he pulled the patch away and revealed his whole face.

She tried not to cry as she looked at the empty orb that stared blankly at her but all her efforts failed her. She felt her face pinch as she tried to hold back her tears with no success. Watanuki may not have been her own son, but it didn't take much to imagine the way she would feel if such a thing had happened to Doumeki instead. Blood or no blood, he was still family. "Kimihiro-kun. I'm so sorry."

"No, really, it's okay. Please don't be upset. I'm all right," Watanuki tried to console her. Akane hugged him again.

"This is wrong, it's wrong!" She sobbed. "This shouldn't have happened to you! You don't deserve any of this Kimihiro-kun!"

Another pair of arms joined them. Watanuki felt Doumeki wrap his arms around both of them. "It's all right, mom. I'll find a way to fix this."

"I don't see how you could," she sniffed. She pulled away reluctantly and wiped at her cheeks with the heel of her hand.

"There are bound to be answers in the library. I won't stop until I've found something."

She seemed to take heart at the conviction she heard in her son's voice. "Your grandfather should wake up soon. You won't be looking alone. I'll look, too."

"Is he… is he okay?" Watanuki asked. Doumeki had told him what had happened. He had enough worry in his system over Haruka to cover the whole family.

"Yes, he's fine." Her eyes were still wet but she finally managed to get herself under control. She didn't blame Watanuki for putting the patch back over his eye. He set his glasses back on his nose. "He wakes up for a little while every day. Enough to eat and ask the time. He should be fine in a couple more days."

Watanuki released a breath of relief. That was the best news he'd heard since he woke up. "I'm going to make a cake," he declared.

"You can barely stand," Doumeki pointed out.

"Then help me if you want to eat anything."

Akane was already pulling bowls out of the cupboard. "We'll make sure he doesn't work too hard, won't we Shizuka-kun? I want a cake with pink and yellow frosting."

. . . . . . . . .

"This is not okay!" Watanuki all but screeched. "Five days! You've been asleep for five days!"

Haruka chuckled as he rested against his pillows. "I'm not injured, Kimihiro-kun. And it's not like I've been asleep enough to miss much of your cooking."

The teenager's face screwed up in frustration. "This isn't about my cooking! You could have been really hurt! That was a really big risk you took!" He placed the eating tray on the floor next to Haruka's futon with a little more force than necessary. His shaking hands betrayed his act of frustration to be a result of reduced muscle control. He was still weak from the healing, Haruka was sure. "Even Shizuka's been worried, I can tell! And he has the facial expressions of a rock!"

The priest picked up the bowl of miso soup and carefully stirred it. Even the smell of Watanuki's soup was much better than takeout. "Your condition was dire, Kimihiro-kun. If it wasn't Reiki healing then it would have been surgery. You know how many spirits stalk hospitals. How long do you suppose you would have lasted in surgery?"

"Yes, but-" He opened and closed his mouth several times looking for a good defense but didn't seem to be able to find one. "What if something _had_ happened to you?" He pleaded, hoping Haruka could see the sense of that.

"I'm not new to risk, Kimihiro-kun. I know my limits." He sipped his soup and smiled. "I want a cake after all of this, though."

The teenager huffed as he tried to fold up one of the extra blankets. "I'm already making chiffon cake. Two of them in fact! Was that enough for Shizuka? Nope!" He put the haphazardly folded blanket in the closet and started collecting the clothes that were on the floor in a laundry basket. "Shizuka had to have a champagne cake _and_ chocolate-au-fondant. _Chocolate-au-fondant!_ Where did he even find the recipe for that? I haven't made any French food in ages!" He adjusted his glasses and brushed some of his bangs aside. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. He had been working too hard that day.

Haruka noticed that the boy's fingers carefully tried to avoid touching the bandage that covered his right eye. It seemed like he was trying to ignore it was there. "He wouldn't request it if he thought you could make it."

"Shizuka would request that I get cheese from the moon for crackers if he thought it was actually made of cheese."

Haruka's lips twitched in a smirk. "So would I."

Watanuki huffed again and stood, the basket of clothes propped up on his hip. "You're crazy, the both of you." He scratched his right temple, still studiously trying to avoid the patch.

"Let me see," Haruka said.

Watanuki nearly dropped the basket of clothes. He knew Haruka would never take no for an answer, no matter how convincing his argument was. He couldn't pretend he didn't know what the priest was talking about. Akane had already told her father the extent of the damage. He set the clothes down next to the door before walking over and kneeling next to Haruka's futon. His face was sullen and sad. "All right," he said at length. He took off his glasses and pulled the patch away from his head.

Haruka couldn't say he was surprised by what he saw. He knew what the acid had done to the boy's skin and knew there wouldn't have been a way for him to heal the eye as well. It didn't mean he wasn't disappointed by it, though. "I am sorry Kimihiro-kun that I couldn't do more."

"You did everything," Watanuki told him earnestly. "I wouldn't be alive without you, you and Shizuka both. I'm really lucky that this is all that's left of the acid."

"You are a good boy, Kimihiro-kun."

Watanuki smiled thinly and put the patch and his glasses back on. "Shizuka is convinced he can find a way to fix this. If you couldn't do it, I don't see how he could either."

"I take it he's looking in the library?" Haruka smiled. "He always was the kind of person to make his own fate."

"He hasn't left the library since he saw my eye. He can't do anything though, right? Even if he did find a spell, you always say you're not a magician."

"I'm not," Haruka grinned widely, "but you are."


	25. Chapter 25

Haruka stood in the doorway of the sitting room and looked over the room's occupants. His grandson was busy scribbling out an essay in his notebook for school. His face was smooth and calm and did not appear perturbed, but Haruka knew his grandson well and could see the dark lines of fatigue around his eyes. He had finally taken a break from his research in the library to catch up on his homework.

Watanuki was lying on the couch Doumeki was leaning against, his features lax in sleep. The Reiki healing had taken more energy from him than it ever had from Haruka. The poor boy was doing his best to take care of the housework and make use of himself, but usually he had just enough energy to cook three meals a day then pass out in sleep. The longest he'd been awake the past seven days was four hours at a time.

The priest entered the sitting room fully and took a seat in the reclining chair. Doumeki's eyes lifted up and took note of his presence. "I see you're working on your homework now. You'll finish in time for school?" Haruka asked.

"Yes," Doumeki replied. "Kimihiro insisted. I'll be done in about an hour."

Haruka chuckled. "More like scolded actually, for about twenty minutes. It took a while for him to shoo you out of the library."

Doumeki sighed and lowered his eyes back to his homework. "The library is very large. It's taking a long time to find the right answer for his eye."

"We'll find something soon, I know."

His grandson nodded. "That's good."

Haruka lit a cigarette and puffed on it. The smoke was a little difficult to see in the dim lamp light. The sun had gone down just half an hour earlier. "Your hearing is tomorrow."

"I know." Doumeki paused in his writing. "Do you think it will go well?"

"That… can depend." Haruka sighed. He took another drag from his cigarette. "The school board has asked for Kimihiro-kun to be present at it as well, if he is feeling up to it."

Doumeki drew his eyebrows together. "Why? What do they want him there for? He had no part in my actions against Fujimoto."

Haruka's face was inscrutable for a moment. Doumeki wondered what knowledge he was holding back. "You don't want him there, then?"

That… should have been obvious. "No, definitely not. Kimihiro gets very easily stressed. He's in no state for such a meeting, and there's nothing they need to ask of him."

"Yes, I know." Haruka frowned then, and deeply. "There is a man on the school board that is very new to his position. His name is Kyle Rondart. He's a foreigner and has been acting as an adviser to the president recently. He is a very unpleasant man."

The teenager sucked in a breath and set down his notebook. "You had a dream?"

"Several, in fact." Haruka took another drag from his cigarette. The priest's family knew of his prophetic dreams. While they did not happen often they were still frequent enough to have confirmed that whenever Haruka had a dream of the future it always came to pass unless the priest himself took actions to change it.

"What happens?" Doumeki asked with urgency.

Haruka pulled a thick envelope from his pocket and set it down on the table that was between his grandson and himself. "Kimihiro-kun is a ward of the government. As such, if a teacher or member of the school board were to become concerned about his welfare, the government would get involved and be able to place him anywhere they desired."

The teenager clenched one of his hands into a fist. "Why would they take him from here? Everyone in Kyoto knows our family, there's no reason not to trust in his safety here."

"Yes, everyone from Kyoto," Haruka agreed, "but not a foreigner, especially one that likes to meddle." He pointed to the envelope on the table. "These papers can protect Kimihiro-kun. It's the only way I can shield him from this Mr. Rondart and his wicked accusations."

Before Doumeki could respond there was movement and noise from the couch. Both of them looked and found Watanuki blinking his one eye open. The boy sat up slowly and used the couch pillows to support himself. "Haruka-san?" His voice wobbled with worry.

"Were you awake for much of it?" The priest asked gently.

Watanuki rubbed his left eye and nodded. "About the hearing, yes." He looked at the older man with a mixture of hope and dread. Hope for Haruka's help and dread at what could happen. "What… what would they try to do? You saw it, right? A dream of the future? I know about those."

The cigarette dangled loosely, nearly forgotten between Haruka's fingers. "At Mr. Rondart's urgings they would find your apartment empty, transfer you to a new location with a full time security guard, and file a two week restraining order against Shizuka-kun until their investigation could be concluded."

"_Why?_" Watanuki cried in panic. "I'm not hurt here! I got more bruises from spirits living alone in my apartment!"

"Because people are fools. They would listen to this man's accusations of abuse and coercion, soak up the drama and waste everyone's time. If these accusations are allowed to be made and given any credence I would not be able to get you back to the temple fast enough."

"Fast enough?" Doumeki pressed. "The blood ward, you mean. Did you see how long it would last?"

Watanuki's trembling fingers found Doumeki's shoulders and squeezed. Doumeki barely noticed. Haruka closed his eyes and frowned. "Sixteen hours."

"Sixteen? After all the steps we've taken, just sixteen hours…?" Watanuki gasped. "Why? Why is this… it's like everything we try makes so little difference…"

The last of the rolled cigarette was burned away as Haruka finished it off. "Because your powers are continually getting stronger. If you'd been anyone else the Reiki healing would have never worked so well. I will need to visit the Anything Store again and locate magic books for you. You have to start training seriously if you ever want to control your aura and travel safely outside of the temple."

"I'm sorry," Watanuki said in a small voice.

Doumeki got up off the floor and sat down on the couch. He drew his partner into his arms. "It's not your fault. Don't apologize." He looked back to his grandfather. "Those papers then, those are what I think they are?"

"Most likely." Haruka made eye contact with Watanuki. "Kimihiro-kun, I know this is a big step for you. Everything I've asked of you has been. These adoption papers would grant me and my daughter the legal rights to be your guardians. If you sign these papers I can protect you from the school, I can speak for you legally, and I can guard you. If you ever end up in the hospital again and are too weak to sign yourself out Akane-chan and I can take you home anyway. If anything happens to all of us then the temple would belong to you."

"I…" This was a lot to take in. "Adoption?" He heard himself ask.

"Legally, yes. Akane and I would be your legal guardians until you are an adult. You don't even have to change your last name if you don't want to."

His single working eye lost a tear. "I've had dreams of the future, too. They're pretty awful, aren't they?" His body shook and he wiped at his face. "I thought I was going crazy when I had my first one. It was a week before my parents died. I kept seeing their faces staring up at me, blank and white. Their skin looked like paper. Just…paper. White and thin like there wasn't anything underneath of it. There was broken glass and blood everywhere and I woke up screaming for three nights in a row. I thought it was only a dream, though. When they finally did die it took me nearly a month before I realized I wasn't still dreaming." Doumeki's hold around him tightened. "Some of the others weren't so bad, like dreaming I would trip on a rock or which alley to avoid that day because of a spirit. I also saw my old land lady in her kitchen in one dream. She collapsed while she was making cupcakes and was too weak to reach the phone and call for help. Two days later there was an ambulance at the apartment building and they were taking her away. She had a heart attack."

"Yes," Haruka sighed, "they can be very awful." He tamped out his already dead cigarette in the ash tray on the table. "While they can be helpful, it is not an ability I would wish on anyone."

The boy reached for the envelope. "If you saw this happening already… I don't want to be taken from here. I don't want to die." He vigorously scrubbed at his tear dampened face. "I trust you, Haruka-san."

Haruka nodded. "I am glad for your trust. You can sign these tonight and Akane will drop them off at the government office tomorrow morning. I know it will be taxing, but you'll need to come with us tomorrow and defend your position. Don't worry anymore about it now. No one on the school board can touch you once these are signed." He stood up and joined the boys on the couch. He placed a hand on Watanuki's shoulder. "You understand what this will mean now? You know what will change?"

The boy nodded shakily. "My apartment will be gone for good. I won't get a living stipend anymore."

"Your living stipend was as small as your apartment," Doumeki remarked. "My monthly allowance is larger than what you received from the government in a month."

"I," Watanuki hesitated. "It was enough. I-I might have even been able to afford new glasses if I didn't need to buy wards all the time. I have nothing to offer, now."

"Nonsense," Haruka corrected. "We are an old and well established family. Money is of no consequence. Your cooking alone is good enough to feed an emperor, and you keep up with the temple work better than Akane does. There is far more to the value of a person than the money they make."

"Yes, but, you already started paying for my food and shelter, glasses for me, Akane-san even bought me new school clothes because…" He hesitated.

"Because of all the blood stains on your old ones," Doumeki finished.

Watanuki blushed in embarrassment. "Yeah."

"Do you like the temple work?" Haruka asked.

The boy nodded. "Yes, very much. It's peaceful, and the gardens are perfect, and the library is practically endless. It's _safe._ I've never been anywhere safer."

"Temple work is time consuming, and there is a lot of it to do. I would never turn away help with that." Haruka smiled. "But you're not to help at all until you can stay awake for a full day. I'll only allow you to make use of yourself once you're healthy again. It's reckless to undo all of the hard work I put in to healing you."

"I understand." Watanuki nodded. His fingers shook slightly as he took out the thick document from the envelope in his hands. "About these papers… I don't want to tell anyone else at school. I'm sure all the teachers will find out, because they were warned about me before I even started, but none of the students."

"The rest of the students can rot for all I care," Doumeki affirmed. "You don't have to tell anyone anything."

. . . . . . . . . . .

Since he'd been shaking all morning Watanuki felt a little numb as they walked into the office room that Doumeki's hearing was in. Doumeki was right, of course, like he usually was. This was really, really stressful for him. After Haruka had warned him to no speak up unless spoken to and to say as little as possible Watanuki felt he might faint.

He still vividly remembered what it was like trying to convince the councilors from middle school that he was _not_ suicidal, that he didn't try to cut or hurt himself, and _please, please, please_ don't send him to a hospital for observation or a mental ward, because then he wouldn't have been able to even run from the spirits. He got really good and cleaning up blood stains on the walls and hiding his bruises when he was very young. The thought of once again defending himself in front of cold, faceless adults was bone chilling.

Doumeki and Haruka both hadn't left either side of him since entering the building. Three hours before hand Akane dropped off the adoption papers at the government building and finalized the rest of the paper work. Watanuki was officially adopted for two hours and twenty six minutes.

Doumeki's strong hand guided him to sit down at a long table. Haruka sat to Watanuki's right, Doumeki on his left, and Doumeki's mother to the left of him. There were several people on the other side of a room, also seated at a long conference table. Watanuki recognized the school principal, Kinomoto, the school nurse was there, the PE teacher Kurogane-sensei, the world history teacher, and a few other people that must have been on the school board.

"Doumeki Haruka-san," the man in the middle of the line of school officials stated, "thank you for showing up a little early today. We all know why we're here, so let's just get down to business. This hearing is in regards to the inexcusable behavior of your grandson, Doumeki Shizuka, when he attacked Fujimoto Hiroto. Our school district has a strict zero-tolerance policy in regards to violence."

"I agree," Haruka stated blandly. "Shizuka-kun's actions were out of line. He is ready to submit to the judgment of this school board. As such, I also hope to see all of the students in question that have harmed Kimihiro-kun will receive proper and corrective disciplinary action."

"Yes, we all know about the acid that the bully in question placed in Watanuki-san's locker," the president stated. "You have also already been informed that Fujimoto-san has been permanently expelled. By all rights we should expel your grandson for equally violent behavior."

"Perhaps," Haruka allowed, "but I'm not referring to Fujimoto Hiroto-san. I am referring to the other students that have harassed Kimihiro-kun for several months now."

There was some murmuring from the school board. "We don't have anything on record," a man spoke up suddenly. He sat on the right side of the president while the school principal sat on the left. The man on the right was very clearly foreign, as Haruka had predicted. "In fact, the only thing I noticed was the sharp increase of harm Watanuki-san has encountered since becoming friends with your grandson."

Watanuki almost jolted out of his chair were in not for Haruka's hand on his wrist, unseen by the other people on the other side of the table.

"I find it strange that Watanuki-san has come to so much harm since meeting your grandson."

"Mr. Rondart," the school principal stood up part way from his chair. "This is the _Doumeki_ family! They are well respected members of this community. You can't possibly suggest-"

"I don't _suggest_ anything," the foreign man said a little smugly. "No one should be above scrutiny, especially since this boy is an orphan. If we do not take a vested interest in his welfare, who will? I even have it on record that Watanuki-san checked himself out of the hospital after the doctors suggested he remain for at least a day for observation."

"I also found myself very concerned for Kimihiro-kun's welfare," Haruka interjected in the sudden noisy cacophony of the room, "which is why my daughter and I filed the adoption paperwork immediately after learning of this poor boy's circumstances."

"What?" The foreign man asked, his face white.

"I'm not sure what files you were looking through," Akane spoke up, "but you must have neglected to check with the school nurse. The amount of times Kimihiro-kun has been sent to the nurse's office with bruises, broken bones and bloody noses from the abuse of his classmates is appalling."

"Akane-san is right," the school nurse spoke up. "I keep detailed accounts of all of the students in the school that come to see me. Watanuki-san has been sent to my office with physical wounds more times than all of the other students put together, and this has been true for years. Shizuka-san has done nothing by try to protect Watanuki-san from the bullies, despite all of my requests for teacher intervention."

"I kept telling you," Kurogane-sensei spoke up next. "Doumeki snapped, as anyone in their right mind should when someone tries to kill a fellow student. Fujimoto was heard by multiple witnesses that he would poison Watanuki next. He served his suspension, let Doumeki-san's grandson return to school."

"This adoption is rather sudden," Mr. Rondart tried next. "For the sake of Watanuki-san's safety, we must make sure there was no external pressure placed on the boy to agree to this arrangement."

Haruka's hand tightened just slightly on his wrist again. Watanuki knew he was going to have to talk soon.

"Perhaps that is best, to find out now instead of later," the board president agreed. "Haruka-san, Akane-san, please step out of the room with Shizuka-kun for a moment."

Watanuki looked to Haruka with a plea in his one eye that said _don't go_, and Haruka smiled and him and clapped him on the shoulder. _It'll be all right. _"Very well," the priest said. He stood up and Doumeki and Akane followed him quickly.

The door clicked closed, and Watanuki found himself alone in the face of scrutiny.

"Watanuki-san," the president started, "you are alone now with the trusted members of this school board. We want to hear from you. Do you feel safe in your current environment?"

"Yes," Watanuki replied earnestly, because he did, safe like he'd never known before.

"Are you now living with the Doumeki family?"

"Yes." He remembered Haruka's advice. Say as little as possible. If he spoke too much that foreign man might find a way to manipulate what he said into something terrible.

"Has Shizuka-san or Haruka-san ever hurt you?" Mr. Rondart asked, fake concern dripping from his words.

Watanuki tried not to shiver at that voice. "Never, they have _never_ hurt me. I love the Doumeki family."

"Was the acid really so bad? I see that you have an eye patch on, but your skin looks fine. Tell us, has Haruka-san instructed you to say anything to us? Anything you feel might not be true?"

The school principle looked flabbergasted as the questions he was hearing from the board advisor. Kurogane-sensei looked livid.

Watanuki stood up, removed his glasses and ripped on the eye patch. Gasps leapt up around the room. "I've been all alone for ten years. _Ten years_ ago my parents died and this is the first time someone has cared enough to notice what happens to me at school. The acid may be the most notable of all of the bullying I've received but it's far from the worst. The Doumeki family is the best people I have ever met, and I don't want to be alone anymore." He tried to control his breathing and his heart. He felt he might pass out from nerves.

Haruka's idea had been brilliant, and it didn't even take any actual lying on Watanuki's part. Playing up the spirit attacks as incidents with bullies wasn't a far stretch, and for every bruise the boy had ever received from a spirit he had an equal amount of both verbal and physical abuse from his classmates. Akane had even gone so far as to call the nurse that morning and request that she bring Watanuki's medical file with her.

The nurse stood up after he said this and handed a thick file over to the president. "This is Watanuki-san's medical file. The nurse from his middle school thought maybe the wounds were self-inflicted because Watanuki-san refused to name anyone when asked. After a thorough medical examination it was determined that there was no way the amount of abuse he received was from self-harm. None of the teachers ever realized just how many of the students were bullying Watanuki-san because he wouldn't say. Fujimoto-san was the first to ever act out during school like this. The other teachers always assumed the bullying was off school grounds, so there wasn't anything we could do."

"The evidence is clear," Principal Kinomoto spoke. "While Shizuka-san overreacted, I think we can all agree that it was a very human mistake. Watanuki-san has not been treated well by his peers, nor has he received enough protection from the teachers. We should all be thankful that Doumeki-san adopted Watanuki-san so graciously."

The president frowned as he looked through Watanuki's file. "Very well. So long as Watanuki-san is not opposed to the adoption there is nothing else we can do for him. Please bring back in Doumeki-san and his family."

One of the board members stood up and ushered the three back in. Watanuki nearly collapsed in relief when they sat back down next to him.

"Doumeki Shizuka-san, while your actions are reprehensible and will not be permitted a second time, the board has come to the conclusion that you acted with momentary irrationality because of your peer's abuse. You will be permitted to return to school but you will be restricted from participating in any of the student board activities and the school festival coming up soon. Upon the request of the Kyuudo instructor you will attend every archery practice without fail and compete in the national tournament. Failure to comply and you will be banned from the archery team. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Doumeki nodded. "Thank you."

The president stopped a moment, almost as if he wasn't expecting a 'thank you' from the teenager. "Very well. You may go. This hearing is adjourned."

. . . . . . . . .

Haruka knew Watanuki would not want to linger but found himself unable to leave immediately. Principal Kinomoto managed to find him and ask for a moment before they left. The priest granted the man's request and walked with him a ways down the empty hall.

"Haruka-san," the principal started, "I am sorry for what the board advisor said. He was out of line suggesting such things about your family."

"What's done is done," Haruka replied. "It is neither you fault, nor the teachers. I know your powers are limited to what the school board allows you to do."

"Still, it was wrong." Kinimoto clasped his wrist in a western style shake. "Thank you," he said honestly. "Thank you for taking Watanuki-san in. I've been very worried for him for a long time. He's very lucky to have you. You and your grandson."

"Kimihiro-kun is very special," he said. "I only wish my grandson had met him sooner. We could have saved him years of grief."

Kinomoto smiled then. "He's still very young. He has his whole life ahead of him to make up for that, at least." He bowed slightly and stepped back. "Please be well, Haruka-san. I will see Shizuka-san in school on Monday." It had already been discussed that Watanuki was going to be kept home for an extra week. At the sight of his empty right eye not even the advisor protested to that.

Haruka smiled and replied in kind. By the time he got to the car Watanuki was hopping back and forth on his feet, eager to be gone. Doumeki decided to change his train of thought and ask for crème brulee when they got home.

"I don't have a blowtorch at home! Not even those little kitchen sized ones! Stop asking for impossible things!" He heard Watanuki yell in exasperation.

"Edo-era udon then?" Doumeki bargained.

"_That doesn't even exist anymore!"_


	26. Chapter 26

When Watanuki opened his eye again the color of the sunshine streaming through the window was a warm golden yellow. After everyone had a hasty lunch of soba noodles and miso soup the teenager felt his head feel once again very heavy and he nodded off to sleep. This need to keep resting was getting rather... tiresome. There was so much school work for him to catch up on. He wished he didn't need so much rest.

Tiredly he padded out of the sitting room where he had fallen asleep on the couch and meandered into the kitchen. The little clock on the stove ticked over the five o'clock hour just as he walked in. Hmm... five o'clock. He should start getting dinner ready. He'd been working ahead each time he cooked the last few days due to needing so much sleep, so there should be plenty of left overs he could easily warm up for dinner. He'd have to start preparing some more meals in the morning.

"Kimihiro-kun!"

Watanuki rubbed his left eye clear of the sleep still in his lashes and smiled at Doumeki's mother. "Akane-san."

The older woman walked up to the refrigerator and opened the door. "Are you feeling okay?" She asked him as she pulled out a couple of containers.

"I think so," Watanuki replied. "Well enough to get dinner together."

"I was thinking..." Akane started with a small grin, "since everyone is up and okay, perhaps it would be nice to have an evening picnic for dinner."

"A... a picnic?" He asked in surprise, as if the idea of a picnic was one he'd never heard of before.

"Yes, wouldn't that be nice? The view of the sunset in the park is lovely this time of year. There's enough left overs in the fridge to feed us for another three meals!"

"I suppose," Watanuki started to agree. "I've never spent much time at the park. Never been safe enough before..."

"Oh!" Akane stopped short in surprise. She hadn't considered that. "Then we definitely should! Picnics are wonderful! There's no question about it!"

"Okay." His fingers twitched as the woman started to pull out lacquered lunch boxes and utensils for the food. Akane wasn't very good at packing a meal. "Ah, here, let me help!" He rushed over and snatched up the supplies.

"Yes, very good. I'll go round up dad and Shizuka-kun. They've been squirreled away in the library since we got home from the hearing."

Before the teenager even managed to set out each box and open the lids Akane was already out of the kitchen and heading outside. He supposed he was feeling well enough to go to the park. It wasn't that far, after all. It was closer than school, even. With both Shizuka and Haruka present he couldn't think of anything that could go wrong. He would take Mugetsu along, too. After the defeat of the Old Spirit Haruka had pointed the large fox to the lake, knowing that a pure source of energy would allow the creature to shrink back down to normal size. Ever since the fox spirit liked to get big then go for a swim, just because it could.

About ten minutes later Haruka and Shizuka entered the kitchen. Watanuki was already putting the finishing touches on his perfectly packed meals. Haruka set a book down on the kitchen table. Several bookmarks stuck out of the pages in different places. The bookmarks were visibly worn and lightly torn in places. The edges of the book were also faded and tattered with age.

"Is there chocolate cake?" Doumeki asked, poking his head over Watanuki's shoulder and inspecting the packed meals.

"Cake?" Watanuki grumbled. "Is there chocolate cake? No, there's no chocolate cake! You and Haruka-san ate all of it yesterday afternoon! You'll have to live with strawberry daifuku and be happy with it."

"What about brownies?"

"Brownies? I haven't made brownies in weeks. You're just looking for chocolate."

"So... _is _there any chocolate?"

Haruka pulled a couple of thermoses down from the cupboard. "How about some hot cocoa to take along with our tea?"

"I think I can manage some hot cocoa. In fact, I'll make it Mexican hot cocoa. I know we've got some chili powder around here."

Doumeki's ears perked up at that. He'd never had hot cocoa with chili powder in it before. "Where did you learn all of these recipes?" Akane asked. She was folding up a picnic blanket she found in the storage closet. "I've never even heard of some of the stuff you make, but it's all fantastic."

"The public library has a great section of cookbooks. It's always been one of my favorite things to do, trying foreign dishes. I would take in my notebooks for school when I needed to do research and jot down recipes from the cookbooks while working on my homework."

Haruka gave some thought to Watanuki's professed hobby. It was also probably very convenient to cook at home since he couldn't be out after dark anyway. The wards he managed to buy for his apartment when he was younger were strong enough at the time to keep his home safe after nightfall.

Doumeki helped wrap up the packed boxes of food and spun the caps on the thermoses tightly closed. Mugetsu squealed in delight when called and they all made their way down the path of the temple to head to the local park.

The streets weren't too busy but the park itself was filled with school children out playing. Classes had been out for a couple of hours already. Akane seemed to know the park well and found all of them a secluded area next to a small lake. She spread out the blanket and everyone settled down.

The time it took for Watanuki to eat half of his meal and sip some tea was enough to allow him to realize it was nice sitting outside and eating with other people. There were birds singing in the trees around them and the breeze was gentle and warm. Was this what it was like for normal people? It seemed like such a simple thing, being able to sit outside with others and eat without fear of harm, be it by spirits or bullies. Why was such a simple act so strange to him? He thought hard, a small frown curving his lips slightly, as he tried to remember.

Not even his parents had done this with him. Even then, it must have been too dangerous.

He must have been spacing out because he didn't realize someone was stealing from his food until he felt a rather insistent stab at a dumpling. "Hey!" He screeched, pulling his lacquered box away from Doumeki's insatiable reach. "You have your own food! Don't steal mine!"

"You have dango," Doumeki informed him tonelessly around a stolen slice of dumpling

"So do you!"

"I ate all of mine."

The teenager sighed in exasperation. Okay, so maybe he was only mildly annoyed. He wasn't even that hungry anymore. He dropped his chin in his palm and balanced his elbow on his bent knee and held out his half finished dinner. It wasn't like he couldn't eat at any time now. The Doumeki family never ran out of food. "Fine, here. I'm done, anyway."

Doumeki frowned a little and took one more half hearted stab at the food. It just wasn't as much fun if Watanuki didn't complain about it.

"Oh!" Akane spoke up with surprise. "I almost forgot! Dad, Uncle Hanako finally called back. He said the whole family up will be down next month."

"Next month..." Haruka rubbed his cheek in thought. "I seem to have forgotten what's happening next month."

"Me, too," Doumeki added.

"The family reunion!" Akane exclaimed with excitement.

"Oh, are we hosting that this year?" Haruka mused. "I've been more sidetracked than I realized. It'll be nice to have everyone over. Hanako-kun said everyone up in Hokkaido is coming down?"

"Yes!" Akane smiled. "Aunt Hikaru, Uncle Hanako and all of their kids and grand kids."

"What about Aunt Shino?" Doumeki inquired. "Isn't she in Singapore right now?"

"Yes, along with her husband and two kids. They've already booked their fight, so they'll be in a couple of days early."

"I haven't heard from your brother Madoka, either," Haruka mentioned. "Have you talked to him recently?"

"Hmm," Akane hummed as she took a sip of hot cocoa. "Yes, he emailed me a couple of days ago. He and Yaoko-chan will be able to come, too."

"I know he's only in Tokyo but his work recently has kept him away for longer. I'm glad he can get some time off."

Doumeki looked over to Watanuki, who's face was white and a picture of shock. "Oi," he probed.

"I... I didn't know your family was so big..."

"Oh, they are going to love you!" Akane gushed. "I'm so excited to have everyone come. I'll have to book a caterer early, everyone eats as much as dad and Shizuka-kun do. We'll have about sixty people total for the reunion but we always have enough food for a hundred. The whole event always lasts three days."

A sad, overworked part of Watanuki's brain fizzled and died. Caterer. She said the word _caterer._ Doumeki raised an eyebrow, knowing just how taboo such as word was. He mentioned getting take out just _once_ while he was staying with the teenager in his tiny little apartment and it had resulted in an hour long rant about why takeout food was going to be the death of him.

"I'm sure Kimihiro wouldn't mind cooking, as long as there's help," Haruka said. "I have to admit that I'm getting a bit spoiled. Your brother Madoka-kun is very good at cooking, Akane-chan, I know he would love to help Kimihiro-kun with the food."

"Cousin Makoto-san is pretty good, too," Doumeki offered.

"But... but..." Watanuki floundered. "Then... then they'll..." He might have started to hyperventilate.

"If Kimihiro-kun cooks, everyone's going to eat twice as much food," Akane said thoughtfully.

There was a spazz attack coming, Doumeki was sure of it. He wished he had a camera.

"B-b-but... aah... _Aaaaaaaah!_" His body jerked forward and he was suddenly scrambling around like a robot with a shorted fuse.

"Hey, _oi!_" Doumeki lost an _umph_ as Watanuki launched over him and scooted around behind him.

"_What is that!"_ Watanuki screeched. He clutched tightly to Doumeki's shirt and pointed toward the small lake just a few paces away from them.

All eyes turned to the top of the water. The surface of it near the shore rumbled and boiled. Slowly and steadily a dark appendage lifted itself out of the water and clung to the dirt, pulling the body beneath it forward. Dark, soaking wet material clung to the appendages pulled back by the weight of the water.

Doumeki bolted to his feet, suddenly glad that he and his grandfather had both brought their bows.

The material worn by whatever the thing was that tried to pull itself out of the lake became more and more recognizable. Dark yellow stars and crescent moons patterned the wet sleeve. "Grandfather."

"Eh, it's all right, Shizuka-kun. Whatever it is, it isn't dangerous. Even Mugetsu hasn't made a fuss."

Watanuki hadn't even thought about that. The fox spirit was still curled around his neck in sleep. "Yes, but, it's crawling out of a lake!"Watanuki pointed out.

"Lakes are easy points of transportation in the spirit world," Haruka informed them.

The arms reached higher and a head of black hair came out of the water next. Shoulders and a chest followed. The creature grumbled to itself as it tried to right its stance. The thick kimono they could now see hung heavy like a rug on the slim being.

It paused. There was a shudder of electricity in the air, faint and tickling. Doumeki recognized the feeling, having experienced it the day he put on the wedding ring that once belonged to Watanuki's father. Watanuki recognized it as magic and, like magic, the creature was suddenly free of any dampness that should have been clinging to it.

"Well!" The spirit that pulled itself out of the lake exclaimed. The head lifted to reveal the face of a handsome man with an ornate set of spectacles. "That wasn't as graceful as I hoped it would be. I haven't traveled back to this world yet. Though, it was still dramatic, I think."

"We weren't expecting a guest," Haruka greeted amiably, blithely ignoring the unusual entrance. "What brings you to this lake? There's nothing very remarkable about it."

"Very true," the spirit of the man replied. "That's one of the reasons my entrance was so difficult. Still, it had to be here. I have trouble visiting my great-great grandson when he's at your temple, and I've needed to speak to him for quite some time."

"What?!" Watanuki yelled in shock. "But... I... you've never... I've never been visited by any family members! Not one! And you suddenly just pop up and expect me to believe you!"

The man frowned sadly. "Yes, I know it's been too long. I came as quickly as I could. You see, when we die, there is a set amount of time we have to wait before we can visit this world again. I couldn't stay and wait for you, even knowing what would happen. It is dangerous for a human spirit to linger in this world without moving on to the other side first. I would have been no help if I haunted your mother, then yourself until you needed my help."

"Your name, then," Haruka demanded. By this point he and Akane had both risen to their feet.

"You don't recognize me? You saw a picture very recently. I'm surprised you didn't recognize the name Reed."

"Wait, _Mr. _Reed?" Watanuki asked. "My mother always said you were my great grandfather."

"Sakura-chan always referred to me as great grandfather Reed because I was _her_ great grandfather. Surely your grandfather must have spoken of me before, Haruka-kun?" The spirit, Mr. Reed, prompted. "Heaven knows that man was a thorn in my side for over sixty years. He must have complained about me in passing, at least."

"I can't say that I remember," Haruka confessed.

"Shocking," the spirit said. "Well, at any rate, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Clow Reed, great-great grandfather of Watanuki Kimihiro."

There was silence around them. Watanuki looked to Haruka, only trusting in the older man's judgment. He learned himself a long time ago to never place his own trust or well being in any spirit's hands.

"... _The_ Clow Reed?" Haruka asked quietly.

Mr. Reed spread his hands and smiled thinly. "The greatest magician that ever lived."

"By the gods."

Akane stepped up to her father and put a hand on his arm. "Dad?"

"It all makes sense. It's no wonder Kimihiro-kun's powers keep getting stronger. If he's your descendant..." He nodded to himself. "Now that I think about it, I do remember Grandfather Shizune complaining a few times. He only ever referred to you as 'that idiot wizard."

Mr. Reed chuckled. "Yes, and don't think that just because we're dead that he's stopped. He still calls me that." His smile fell. "He's right, though. He always was. Sakura's death was my fault, as well as Kimihiro-kun's condition. I meddled too much with things that should have been left well enough alone."

"The magic in your blood," Haruka said. There was no question in his voice.

"Yes," Clow confirmed. "It is inherited through the blood. As are the exorcist abilities passed down through your own family. By the time I was old enough to realize that my meddling would affect my blood, and that the abilities it granted would continue to grow stronger with age and time, it was too late. My grandchildren had already been born and there was no way to stop it."

"What did you meddle in?" Watanuki asked.

Clow shook his head. "Never will I repeat it." He pulled a large, thick tome from inside of his robes. "Just know that eventually you can learn to control it. It takes time, age, and discipline, but you are more than capable. Any children of our bloodline from now on would have to remain protected and hidden from all spirits until they grew old enough to learn the techniques detailed in this book." He held it out and showed the surface of it. "This is my gift to you."

"I..." Doumeki guided the speechless teenager forward so he could accept the gift.

"And here," Clow said after Watanuki took the book from the spirit's hands. He removed the glasses from his handsome face and handed them over as well. "Wear these always, for as long as you need them. Like your rings, these glasses will protect you."

"So... you really are then? My great-great grandfather?"

"Yes." Surprisingly, Mr. Reed's dark blue eyes found Doumeki's gaze. "One last thing." He pulled a rolled up scroll from a different pocket and handed it directly to Doumeki. "This is the cleanest solution I could find to fix Kimihiro-kun's little eye problem. It may not seem ideal right now, but it will prove to be the best solution in time."

Doumeki took the scroll and looked at it in his hand. The twine that kept it tied had two small trinkets on it. One of the trinkets was a piece of gold carved to look like a flaming sun, and the other was a piece of silver cut to look like a sickle moon.

"Will you be staying long, then?" Haruka asked the spirit.

"No, I'm afraid not." Clow folded his arms and hid his hands in his long kimono sleeves. "I'm afraid Shizune has some more lectures for me. This is all great fun for him, you must understand, outside of the dangers present. Our family clans had been rivals for generations by the time Shizune-kun and I got to know each other. A rivalry I took very seriously for a time. He has complete faith in the fact that Kimihiro-kun is safe with you. He also laughed at me for a week straight when we realized that intimacy was the only way to ward my descendant."

Watanuki's face burned. "My _whole life history_ has been on display for you? Can I just dig a hole and bury myself in it now?"

Mr. Reed laughed, then, and jovially, too. "You are a treasured grandson, Kimihiro-kun. Always remember that." He turned and looked back to the lake. "I must be going now. Stay safe, all of you. Things should settle down from now on."

The spirit of Watanuki's great-great grandfather walked back into the water of the lake. He stared as the handsome man that looked so much like him sunk further and further into the glassy surface. With one final wave of goodbye Mr. Reed dunked all the way down into the water and disappeared.


	27. Chapter 27

Watanuki was still thoroughly embarrassed by the time they made their way back to the temple. Hearing from a dead relative that his personal habits had pretty much been on display for _his whole life_ was bad enough – knowing they'd been on display when he and Doumeki were intimate was downright mortifying. He seemed to be the only one that cared, though. If he hadn't been there he might have even been able to pretend that Doumeki didn't even hear that part of the conversation for all that it seemed to bother him. (Which was not at all, of course.)

It was probably better to just never, ever mention that part of the conversation for as long as he lived. Watanuki wanted to do nothing but shove that subject neatly under the rug where it would never, ever be heard from again. He knew if he never left the temple grounds that not even good spirits could sneak up on him, so perhaps he could just hole up in the shrine and never come out again. It just might save him a lifetime of further embarrassment, even if he did have to become a hermit for it.

"Oi."

Not that Doumeki would let him, if the overbearing oaf likely had anything to say about it. Doumeki liked to ruin all of Watanuki's carefully laid out plans of avoiding awkward situations.

"Oi." Doumeki said again.

"My name's not _'Oi.'_" He automatically replied. Funny how some responses were just reflex, now.

"Did you look at that book yet?" He looked pointedly at the massive, ancient looking tome in Watanuki's hands.

He looked down at the book, too, carefully turning it over in his hands as they all continued to walk back home from the park. He'd had only a little time to crack open the cover and look at some of the pages before they had packed up the picnic. "A little." He stared at it in some annoyance. "Some of the pages look like they're in English, but even then most of it looks like gibberish. I don't know how I'm expected to read this thing."

"English, is that so?" Haruka asked. He pointed to the book. "May I look at it?"

"Please!" Watanuki exclaimed. "Maybe you can translate it for me!" He handed the leather bound tome over, happy to have some help with the cryptic thing.

Haruka took the book and scanned the pages that opened up to him. He flipped through a few more, humming thoughtfully out load. "Well… that's interesting." He flipped through a few more pages. "Very interesting, indeed."

"Can you read it? Did you see anything useful?" Watanuki asked hopefully.

Haruka closed the book and handed it back to the teenager. "I'm afraid not. The pages look completely blank to me."

"_What?!"_ Watanuki yelled in shock. "Blank! How can they look blank?" He stopped and flipped through more of the thick vellum pages. "But look! I think some of this looks like it's in Latin, too! Also, see here?" He pointed to another page. "Ancient Japanese! I don't recognize most of these Kanji!"

Haruka smiled at him amicably, apparently not upset in the least by this information. "Nope. Still blank."

Doumeki grabbed the book out of Watanuki's hands and started to peruse it himself. "Huh. Blank for me, too."

"B-but!" Watanuki flailed. "This isn't any help! How am I supposed to use this if I can't translate it and I'm the only one that can see what's written in it?!"

Akane looked over her son's shoulder to the open, seemingly empty pages herself. "How very strange. I can't see anything, either. It must be meant just for your eyes only, Kimihiro-kun."

The teenager took the book back with much reluctance from Doumeki's hands. "This could take forever…"

Doumeki's grandfather smiled encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll translate things as you're ready to learn them. Magic books can be stubborn like that. It's why I've never kept many in my library, they are very little good to me and don't allow most people to read them."

As they turned down another corner the entrance to the shrine came into view. Watanuki looked to the scroll held in Doumeki's hand, still tied with the brown twine. "What about that?" He asked suddenly. "Did you look at that? Can you read it?"

In fact, he hadn't look at it yet. Doumeki pulled the twine from the scroll and unrolled it carefully. "I can see writing on it." This was supposed to be the 'solution' to his partner's eye problem. He wondered what it would say.

"Well?!" Watanuki pressed as the other teenager studied the scroll. "What does it say?"

Doumeki frowned. "I'm reading it. It's complicated."

Watanuki bounced from foot to foot impatiently as Doumeki's eyes scanned down the paper. A few minutes after making into the shrine and removing their shoes still had the teenager deep in concentration over it.

The spell called itself _The Split Eye._ It started off talking about the dangers and permanence of adjusting one's eyesight in any way, then moved on to the benefits of taking partial vision from creatures such as birds and deer to increase visibility over vast distances. The spell then detailed very, very complicated looking diagrams of eyes, symbols, sweeping curves and variable times and ridiculous looking calculations that used more discreet symbols than Doumeki had ever seen, even in his advanced mathematics class. Oh. _Oh._ It took him a moment to make the connection on what they were supposed to do with this.

Mr. Reed was right. This didn't seem very clean at all. Watanuki was going to throw a fit. "Here." He handed the scroll over. "It says I'm supposed to share one of my eyes with you."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Watanuki declared. "Let me look over this, I'll bet you read it wrong." He grabbed the unrolled scroll and locked his one working eye on the contents.

There was a long stretch of silence as everyone waited in the hallway while Watanuki read over the spell carefully. The longer he read the paler his face became. "This… this can't be right. It talks about taking eye sight from other creatures and warns about giving up your own. How did you get out of this that we would… we'd…" Here, he stopped and stared. His face was a picture of disbelief. "How can you think… one of _your_ eyes?! You're crazy!" He rolled up the scroll. "I won't accept it."

Haruka snatched the paper from Watanuki's hand and looked at it himself. It did seem rather drastic, but what the boys discussed was indeed what the spell told to do.

"Your Great-Great Grandfather handed it to me," Doumeki pointed out. "You did see what the side effects are, right? If you're ever in danger and I'm not there, I'll be able to see where you're at. I'll have an easier ability to see what you see – which means I could see spirits better, too. He gave the scroll to me because I'm the one that has to agree to this, which I already have."

"But… share an eye? How does that work?" Akane asked of them. "It doesn't make any sense to me."

"That's the way magic is," Haruka said. "The spell would drain half of the vision in one of Shizuka's eyes and give that vision to Kimihiro-kun. The right eye, mind you. It would not restore any vision in Kimihiro-kun's right eye if Shizuka-kun took the vision from his left eye."

"No!" Watanuki insisted again. "I'm not damaging your vision over this! We'll find another way!"

"Don't you think if there was a better option Mr. Reed would have given it to us?" Doumeki asked him. "This is what we are going to do."

"Haruka-san! Akane-san, tell him he's crazy!" Watanuki pleaded. He looked back to Doumeki. "You can't ask me to do this!"

Akane looked at the scroll in her father's hands, the words on it looking to be written in Greek for all she could tell. "It does seem… a little extreme, but if there's really no other way, then it's up to Shizuka-kun." She bit down a little on the nail on her thumb. "I can't imagine he'd want you to stay half blinded if there was some way he could fix it."

"I'm afraid Akane-chan is right, Kimihiro-kun. As… drastic as this option seems, this is between the two of you," Haruka said slowly. "This is something that would affect you both permanently, and this option does have some merits. You'll need to think this over carefully together." He tried to hand the scroll back to him but Watanuki refused to take it. His expression stated it was the most offensive thing he'd ever seen up to that point in his life.

Doumeki took it instead. "We're going to."

"We are not!"

He started directing his partner to their shared bedroom. "Yes we are, even if I have to convince you."

"That will _never_ happen!"

"I'm good at convincing you to do things."

"This is _completely_ different!"

When the boys were out of earshot Akane looked to her father, her expression worried. "Is this really the best option?"

Haruka shrugged and sat down at the kitchen table. "Who am I to say? I'm not a wizard and don't actually know much about things like this. I believe Shizuka-kun was right when he pointed out if a better option did exist, it would have been given." He took out a rolled cigarette from one of his pockets and lit it. "Mr. Reed also said this would prove to be the best option in time. Who knows what he's seen of things to come? This may be more important than we can realize right now."

Akane sat down too with a heavy sigh. "I guess. I don't know anything about this, either." They could still hear Watanuki yelling his refusal to Doumeki a few rooms away. "Do you really think he'll convince Kimihiro-kun?"

Haruka smiled slightly as the shouted phrase _biggest walking idiot ever in the history of idiots _floated down the hallway. "If he's supposed to."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Doumeki had never seen Watanuki be so stubborn before. He had expected it, of course, having witnessed the fits his partner had in the past, but that didn't make it any less frustrating. "Kimihiro, I'm not changing my mind. We are doing this spell."

His face was red with righteous anger. "We are _not! _I'm not changing my mind, either! How can you even ask me to take part of your vision? Don't you know how crazy this is!"

"How could I forget? You keep reminding me," was his deadpan reply.

"I keep reminding you because you keep saying we're doing this!" He stomped his foot partly in frustration and partly to help make his point clear. "No is no!"

Feeling exasperated, Doumeki quickly snatched the glasses from his partner's face, then the eye patch that covered the sightless eye. "Hey!" Watanuki protested.

Doumeki cupped the other teenager's face and held him firm, locking their eyesight together. "Do not ask me to stare at this empty spot for the rest of our lives!" He stressed. "Not when there is a solution on hand right now to cure this. Let me share this burden with you."

Tears leaked out of Watanuki's left eye. Not his right eye, though, which seemed to have lost its main tear ducts from the acid. The right side remained dry and placid. He tried to shake his head, Doumeki's hands still not letting go of him. "How can I do this to you? Why do you always get your way?"

"Because I'm right, and you're too stubborn for your own good."

"Pot calling the kettle black! I'm stubborn? Not as stubborn as you are!"

Doumeki removed one of his hands from his partner's cheeks and held up the scroll from Mr. Reed. He had to be more stubborn than Watanuki, who else would look out for him? "Perform the spell."

His shoulders shook from holding back the annoying tears that kept leaking down his face. Damn, why did he have to get so emotional over these things? Stupid Doumeki with his stupid expressionless face and stupid stubborn as a mule attitude. Unwillingly he opened the scroll and looked over the instructions once again, his face pinched. "Of course. Stupid, stupid spell."

"Can you do it easily?"

"It's not fair," he whined. "That book is in foreign languages yet this dumb thing just seems to keep rearranging itself as I read it to make it simpler and simpler." He wiped at his face. "This shouldn't be so stupidly easy."

Doumeki looked over the page again, the archaic and complicated equations looking as undecipherable as ever. His grandfather was right when he said magic books were tricky. "Do it," he encouraged, hopefully before Watanuki lost his nerve again and started with more refusals.

Slowly and suddenly quiet, Watanuki lifted his right hand and held his palm in front of Doumeki's right eye. The look on his face said he may as well have been putting injured kittens to sleep, he looked so sad. He took a deep breath, then pulled.

Nothing looked outwardly different and Doumeki didn't feel anything. However after a minute a small, yellow glow of light started to swirl just in front of Watanuki's palm. Things started to look fuzzy in one eye for Doumeki. Colors and edges started to blur slightly, growing closer and closer together the longer they stood there.

After a few more seconds Watanuki took a small step back and held up his hand, the small yellow orb over his fingers bobbing lazily up and down. "Please," he pleaded. "Don't make me do this."

He looked at the softly glowing orb, realizing how strange it was to be looking at half of the vision from one of his own eyes. He snaked his arms around his partner's waist and held him as close as possible without bumping the hand holding half of his eye. "It's all right." His hand pressed into the small of Watanuki's back. "This is what I want you to do."

Frowning, sadder than ever, Watanuki brought the orb up to his mouth, took a breath, then swallowed it.

Doumeki's eyelid fluttered involuntarily as Watanuki swallowed the orb. That was a strange feeling. His vision was still the same now, half blurry on the right and still perfect on the left, the tickling sensation lasting only a moment.

When his eyes opened again, one eye shone blue and the other a tawny gold. To anyone that wouldn't know better his eyes could have been heterochromatic. Doumeki thought the look rather striking. "Can you see now?"

He blinked a few times, then put his glasses back on. "…Yes," he said at length. His great-great grandfather's spectacles sat perched lightly on his nose. "I can see fine, out of both of them. The glasses seem to make up for the difference on both sides." He removed the glasses, looked around the room, then snorted. "It figures that half of your sight is still better than all of the sight I had."

Doumeki hugged him tightly. "I'll try getting a contact for my right eye. Maybe it will work."

He did not hug back right away. "It's going to be a long time before I forgive you for this. In fact, I just might not forgive you, you were an ass about this."

"That's fine," Doumeki agreed easily. "You're what I care about most."

"Crazy jackass."

"Idiot." It was hard to hide the affection in that insult, not that Doumeki tried.


	28. Chapter 28

Bright and early Monday morning the sounds of breakfast cooking filtered from the kitchen and down the halls of the temple. The sun was barely an hour old and already a lunch and several snack boxes were packed and wrapped up in cloth, ready for transportation. Rice, freshly removed from the cooker, steamed merrily in several bowls while eggs and vegetables and spices were artfully arranged on top.

This was how Doumeki found Watanuki that morning before school, cooking enough food for ten and juggling several bowls at once. "Oi."

Watanuki's characteristic _Doumeki is an idiot_ scowl crossed his face as he moved around the table and set down his burdens. "How many times have we been over this? My name isn't _Oi!_ You should be thanking me for slaving away this morning so that you can fill up your gluttonous stomach! I even made snacks for the rest of the archery team, since you have practice today. I know _they_ will at least appreciate my cooking!"

Doumeki moved around the table and up to his partner. Watanuki couldn't help but take immediate notice of the intense look in those piercing golden eyes and backed up into the counter without realizing it.

Doumeki's hands framed Watanuki's face, his fingers sliding up into soft and fly-away black hair. He was getting really fond of doing that, it seemed. "We didn't have sex this morning."

Watanuki squirmed in Doumeki's hold. "Obviously! I had a lot of cooking to do this morning. Why do you have be so blunt about such sensitive stuff, anyway? Don't you have any decency?!"

The taller teenager remained firmly where he was, his gaze unwavering. His partner's blue and yellow eyes glared up at him. Doumeki felt a rather absurd sense of male pride at seeing his eye looking back at him from Watanuki's face. Something about it seemed to silently shout _'This is mine!' _to anyone that looked at it. It somehow felt a bit like marking his territory. Maybe he was a bit of a caveman after all.

Nah. Just old fashioned.

"It's my first day back at school today."

Although he was often a dumbass, Watanuki could also admit that Doumeki wasn't a person that was prone to stating the obvious. He didn't fail to realize the significance of today, either. It would be the first whole day since Doumeki first followed him home that they'd be apart, as Watanuki was taking one more week at home. The sixteen hour limit on their intimacy ward was long since worn off.

"I'm not going anywhere today," Watanuki said softly.

"Don't leave the temple." If he didn't know better, Watanuki could have almost ignored the solemnly stated, desperate plea that was.

"I won't."

"Not one foot off the grounds."

"I know!" He stressed. That intense look was boring into his very core and driving him crazy. "I'm not suicidal, you know! You are way too overbearing."

"Hn." Doumeki kissed him then, long and leisurely. When he broke away Watanuki suddenly realized the sneaky bastard had reached behind him and picked up a plate from the counter that held a recently cut piece of chocolate cake.

"Hey!"

"Make sure there are octopus shaped sausages in my lunch."

"Why you-!"

"Oh, good morning!" Akane's voice entered the kitchen just then. "Wow, Kimihiro-kun, you've outdone yourself this morning! Look at all there is to eat!"

"Is that chocolate cake?" Haruka entered the kitchen behind his daughter, noticing the plate his grandson was currently munching from. "I hope there's a slice for me."

"B-but, Haruka-san! You can't have cake for breakfast!" He glared over at Doumeki. "Neither should he!"

"I'm not, I'm having cake and tamagoyaki. It's all going the same place, anyway. So I'll have my cake first."

Watanuki despaired over his perfectly packed snack boxes. There was no hope for this family when it came to food.

A few minutes after Doumeki left for school Watanuki started on the dishes that needed to be cleaned. Preparing all that food had created a rather large mess. Akane had already left the kitchen to start on the temple work for the day. Haruka was looking through the paper.

"Kimihiro-kun."

Watanuki paused in the middle of scrubbing a cooking pan in the sink when Haruka said his name. He looked over his shoulder, arms still buried in sudsy dishwater, at Doumeki's grandfather. "Haruka-san?"

The priest walked up to him and studied his face, one hand lifting the boy's chin up slightly for a better look. At least he knew where Doumeki picked up the habit. Watanuki couldn't help but blush under the scrutiny.

"You completed the spell, then."

His blush deepened a bit and he averted his eyes, a faint scowl marring his face. "Shizuka insisted and wouldn't listen to any of my protests. He's way too stubborn."

"He's used to getting his way," Haruka replied and dropped his hand. "It _is_ a striking look you have now."

The teenager nervously scrubbed harder at the newly cleaned pan. "Striking? I can't imagine anything about me being striking. It's just weird. Weird because Shizuka is weird and makes me weirder being around him, not that I wasn't weird before, but now it's kind of worse…" he babbled.

Haruka chuckled and poured himself a cup of tea. "Don't work too hard today. You're expected to rest until the end of the week."

"I understand," Watanuki answered, his shoulders visibly more relaxed with the topic of his new eye over.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Haruka opened the doors to the library and stepped out into the midday sunlight. He and his daughter had spent the better part of the morning cleaning and re-cataloguing the library's vast contents of books, scrolls, and esoteric materials. He hadn't kept proper logs of everything he owned for years and it was time to catch up.

He intended to go to the main house and find if Watanuki had anything prepared for lunch, so he was a bit surprised to find the boy in question kneeling on the ground not far from the temple, deep in concentration over the dirt. He was loudly and clearly cursing whatever it was he was working on.

Haruka walked up to the teenager and smiled, lighting a cigarette as he did so. "Having trouble?"

"Oh, Haruka-san!" Watanuki looked up at him, his heterochromatic eyes wide. "This book is so stupid!" He flailed his arms around him, gesturing to the markings he'd started to make in the dirt. "Meditate in the magic circle, it says! Imagine the forces of evil slide away from you and around your circle, it says! It sounds like children's fairy-tale nonsense!"

He studied the designs drawn on the ground and tried to make some sense of it. It was very complicated, and probably would have been lovely if Watanuki had been able to draw a proper circle and not an oval shape instead. He could clearly see a sun and moon symbol etched out, along with what appeared to be time markers across the outermost ring, but he did not recognize the symbols drawn in each space, if indeed it was a time marker at all. "Well, have you tried it yet?"

"Of course not! It took me a while to draw this silly circle." He added a few final touches, then seated himself in the very center, careful to not disturb the lines he had previously drawn. "Knowing me, I'm just going to fall asleep trying to meditate."

"Slow steps, Kimihiro-kun. Everyone always has to start at the beginning."

Watanuki crossed his legs and sighed, then closed his eyes.

"Try to keep your back straight, rest your hands on your knees with your palms up. Try to not focus on anything you hear around you. Just focus on yourself, your breath, and the rhythm in your body." As a priest, Haruka had a great deal of experience with meditating. He remembered teaching his grandson how to do it when he was much younger.

The teenager wiggled a little in place as he tried to settle himself, then made a visible effort to relax his body. Watanuki wasn't the type of person to meditate ever – normally he was far too energetic to stay in one place for long. It was kind of cute to see him make this effort.

Minutes passed. Nothing visibly changed as far as Haruka could see. Only Watanuki's always-bright spirit was shining with the glow of the other-worldly, but that was normal for the priest to pick up. He pulled from his rolled cigarette and exhaled. The smoke rushed away with his breath and out, toward the circle drawn in the dirt and the teenager that sat in the middle of it.

Still, nothing was visibly different, but the gray cigarette smoke bounced off an invisible wall and billowed around Watanuki completely, no trace of the substance making its way over the magic circle. Time even seemed to slow marginally around it, the large plumes moving slower and sharp in detail. It was quite mesmerizing.

"Argh, this is pointless!" Watanuki despaired. The moment his concentration broke the rest of the cigarette smoke returned to normal and diffused in the air over and around the circle. "I don't feel any change." He leaned over his lap and let his arms flop to the side. "I'm not making any progress yet, am I, Haruka-san?"

Haruka could only grin widely, amazed at what he already saw. "Of course you are, Kimihiro-kun. You're doing splendid. Keep practicing."

"I'm ready to practice by taking a nap," he bemoaned.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_A short chapter this time, so I do apologize for that. I did want to get up what I currently have, however, and let all of you know that I haven't given up on this story or my other xxxHolic story, though the second one will take some more time before it sees an update. I've been very sick for a while and it took a long time to recover. I apologize for making everyone wait._

_Please be aware that I have done some editing and a tiny be of rewriting for this story, so I will post the updated chapters when I post the next update. Just a hint – you'll want to reread the reveal to Doumeki's mom Akane in the beginning. I feel I didn't do the shock of their situation justice for a traditional, simple woman like Akane. I will put the notice with the next chapter update when that's been made available on this story._


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